


Bad Things

by Kaoz



Category: Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Apocalypse, F/M, Walkers (Walking Dead), Zombie Apocalypse, Zombies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2016-02-29
Packaged: 2018-01-03 08:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 23,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaoz/pseuds/Kaoz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Coming home wasn’t how they imagined it would be. Home wasn’t there anymore. Home was over-run by walking corpses hungry for human flesh. The world ended and the promise of ‘family’ became something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I started this because 1. I always wondered what the heck happened to the beaner and his family after they left the group. –If my use of ‘beaner’ offends anyone, tough. I'm a beaner and proud of it- 2. It doesn’t seem like the show is in any hurry to bring back any of the old characters not killed off in previous seasons, well, except for the Governor.  
> I'm only planning on 2 or maybe 3 chapters. Short and sweet.

Carol drove trying not to let the tears blind her. There was enough already that could kill her without adding her own dangers.

The one thought in her mind was that she was truly alone now. She wasn’t welcome at the prison after what she did to Karen but Carol had only been doing what was needed, what had to be done. For everyone’s safety. The same as she had been doing in the library with the children. They all had to know how to protect themselves, how to kill.

They couldn’t die like Sophia.

.*.

They lived in silence. It was the only safety afforded to them and even then, silence didn’t mean much if one of those things caught sight of them.

She kept her tread light, just like she’d been taught back when birds used to chirp in the trees and they could run in the field, laughing without concern that something would crawl out of the darkness to eat their flesh.

At the top of the stairs, in the window seat, keeping an eye on the street out front of the house sat one of the littlest members of their 4person family. He was looking right at her and only turned back to the window when she nodded. She turned down the hallway past the little guy dropping a granola bar in his lap along with a water bottle. He made a face she caught from the glare in the window.

 _‘Some things don’t change even when corpses are trying to eat you.’_ She shook her head smiling.

The harsh coughs coming from the room at the end of the hall reminded her of their second littlest family member. The little girl burning up with fever and fading by the minute. All she knew of first aid came from her dead Mother- the doctor. But it wasn’t enough to save either of them…

“Tenn?” she whispered. She pushed the door open gently, the rug muffling any sound she could've made. The curtains were drawn because the light hurt her eyes and the windows were firmly shut, nailed and locked- one of those safety things they’d been forced to make a habit of.

“It’s starting.” He looked up at her, the bloody bit of rag he was using to wipe her mouth was soaked.

“The meds-.”

“Aren't working on her like they did on the rest of us.” Tenneyson cut her off. “Like Mom.” He whispered.

Those two words were like ice in her veins. She was shaking her head without realizing, backing out of the room until she was at the front door of the house.

_‘He’ll be more than an orphan now.’_

They'd both lost their parents, so young and now Louis was losing his sister as well.

_‘Way to keep a promise.’_

She grabbed her weapons; a quiver full of arrows, her compound bow and the spare- a going away gift- and the backpack she used for scavenging. That wasn’t the point of going out because there was plenty to eat. They were stocked for a good while yet. No, there were a lot of Walkers to put down and Waverly had the energy for a good cleaning.

 .*.

It was quiet enough Tenneyson heard his sister leave the house. There was one rule; don’t go off alone. Just one rule but it didn’t seem like a rule Waverly ever felt the need to follow. Yes, they both had the same upbringing. They had the same parents, they travelled the world, they lived in Japan most of their young to teen-age lives, they trained with the same master … he was only two years younger but Waverly had taken up the role of ‘Mom’ even before theirs died. Months of being mothered by two Skye women … _‘Right now, I wish Mom was here.’_

Tenneyson stared down at Eliza. She was having trouble breathing, her chest barely rising and the wheezing breath pushing out of her dry lips had him tense. He didn’t know if he should get Louis, let them say goodbye… She was the last of his family. He knew Waverly was pissed about this, about Eliza. She promised Morales, she promised their Mother to take care of them, keep them safe …

_‘There's nothing safe anymore.’_

And soon it would only be the 3 of them.

Tenneyson placed the wet rag on Eliza’s forehead. It was all the comfort they could give her and how much longer would she hold out? An hour? Two? Minutes…?

He sighed, wishing his sister would hurry up, vent and get her ass back to the house because he didn’t want to stick an ice pick in Eliza’s ear when she died.

 .*.

They moved to a new house the same day Eliza died. Waverly made them and Louis was glad because he didn’t want to sleep in the room his sister had died in.

The new house was different. It was on the opposite side of town and they'd had to kill a few Walkers just to get there but there was a wraparound porch on the first floor that served as a deck at the back of the house. The room he picked was at the back with a large window seat where the moon light painted shadows on the rug over the hard wood floors.

Louis couldn’t sleep. He could hear them both downstairs, Waverly was quieter than Tenneyson. It was mostly Tenneyson that he heard, just a slight muffled voice but Louis focused on picking out each word because he did not want to sleep.

He wondered where Sophia and her Mom were. If Carl and his Mom had found that doctor with a cure. He wished his Dad hadn't decided they should go off on their own – why couldn’t they have stayed with the others? They had been safe…

_‘There isn't anywhere safe.’_

Louis didn’t want to say it out loud but they were all going to die. It was just a matter of when.

.*. 

Waverly heard it. The shuffle and moan of Walkers on the hunt. She had a second of debate; get back to her brother and their cub, or … indulge curiosity.

“I'm a friggin cat.” She muttered under her breath. There was one flash bang in her pack- same as in all of their packs. Its was a limited supply so they were careful not to use them if there was another way out.

“Back!”

Waverly stopped at the corner. She could hear struggling and the Walkers banging on metal- either they were trying to get _in_ a car for whoever was trapped inside it, or they were running _into_ the cars in their way of whoever they were trying to eat.

“…Sophia…aah!”

Waverly grabbed the flash bang from the pocket in her pack and slipped it inside her vest. She readied her bow, knocking an arrow and quickly stepped into the middle of the street.

“What… the…?” her surprise didn’t last long.

At the end of the street was a woman trying to keep the Walkers from breaking into the car she was stuck in. She was using a long spear to jab at the closest ones from out of the sun roof and there was a pile of dead Walkers already around the SUV.

The first arrow was quickly followed by a second and third. By the time Waverly had taken down 6Walkers the woman in the sun roof finally noticed she was getting help. She looked relieved, then confused when Waverly motioned for her to get down. The sight of the flash grenade seemed to do trick because as soon as Waverly pulled the pin the woman ducked into the SUV.

“God, I hope you don’t flip out when you hear this go off, Tenney.” Waverly tossed it as far as she could, aiming at the house across the street from the SUV. Of course it fell two houses short but it was still enough time for her to duck behind the truck on the opposite side of the street, a little closer to the woman.

The bang left her ears ringing even this far back but it certainly drew the Walkers. The problem with using the flash bang is the Walkers all the noise would attract.

Waverly knocked another arrow and quickly made her way towards the SUV on the sidewalk. She took down stragglers- the stubborn ones refusing to go check out the smoke in the yard across the street.

“Out!” she hissed in the loudest whisper Waverly dared. She grabbed the few arrows she could while the Walkers shuffled their decaying bodies away from them. The creak of the back passenger door felt like another grenade to Waverly and she froze, staring at the backs of a dozen Walkers. She didn’t breathe, let alone move when two large packs landed on the sidewalk with a muffled thud.

“Christ lady!” Waverly glared, hissing at the salt and pepper haired woman grabbing at her bags with one already on her back. “Silence is _golden_.”

“Thank you. I'm Carol-.”

“Great.” Waverly cut her off. “ _Shut up_.” She ordered and sharply motioned for her to get a move on into the yard behind them.

Carol clamped her mouth shut, shouldered her bags and moved quickly into the yard. Waverly spotted quite a few arrows but the Walkers were too close to try getting them.

_‘Not worth it. Not worth it. Damn it!’_

 .*.

Tenneyson made sure the house was secured; there was no way Walkers could get in. Louis was stationed at the second floor window facing the street, watching for Waverly. There was no way they hadn't heard the flash bang go off. They'd only used them one other time before, when Hector sent them ahead and –

“Tenn!”

He turned towards the stairs where Louis skipped the last four, arms swinging and pointing to the door.

“Open! Hurry, open!” Louis ran into the living room. “She's coming!”

“Waves?” he questioned moving to the side door – the one designated as their emergency entrance. The sun blinded him for a second but he blinked, stepping out with his own bow ready.

“Get inside.” Waverly ordered is a low voice. She didn’t even make a sound coming up the wooden steps, unlike the woman stomping up to the porch. “Go, Tenneyson.”

He moved inside as Waverly closed the door behind her. He helped secure it, catching her eyes. The unspoken question was there, Louis hovering in the kitchen entrance waiting to know if they were grabbing gear and running.

Waverly shook her head. “They didn’t follow.”

Tenneyson nodded, a soft breath of relief his only sign that he was really worried.

“Carol?” Louis’ small voice broke through the silence.

Carol straightened, her hand braced on the kitchen island. She squinted, looking at the boy but her eyes kept blurring, stinging with tears. “… Louis…?” she wasn’t sure but Carl had also changed during the time she had been with the group. Louis wouldn’t have been any different.

He ran and threw his arms around her waist, shoulders shaking accompanied by muffled sobs. His head was bent awkwardly but Carol held him tightly, crying. She hadn't thought to ever see Louis, or anyone that she knew. The few people left that had any connection to her were back at the prison…

“You've met.” Waverly dryly waved a hand towards them. She looked at her brother. “Carol. Flash bang.” And that was plenty explanation.

.*. 

 


	2. Coming Out of the Darkness

_The quiet was not something she was used to, she could see the kids didn’t feel at ease either. Her eyes went right to the dark head bent under the hood of the car. She didn’t want to make more noise than he was already producing with that wrench. Still, she stuck her head out the window after making sure there was nothing around to take a chunk out of it._

_“Ya mero?” her voice came out a soft whisper. It took him a minute but finally he stood back, eyes on the engine, sweat beading his face and let out a heavy sigh._

_“It needs a new belt.” At least he thought that’s what the problem was. He walked around to the drivers side, tossed the wrench on the seat and looked at his family. The children were in the back seat, both huddled in the center- as far from the doors and windows as they could get. His wife quickly rolled up her window as far as she could in order to still get a breeze but remain safe._

_He glanced right, down the road … thinking._

_“Caminamos.” He finally said. He couldn’t leave them and walk on his own to the gas station they’d passed a half hour ago. He would never make it back to them before dark; he doubted he'd make it to the gas station before the sun went down. But it was better to go together – he wasn’t going to separate his family and risk losing any one of them._

_“A donde?” Miranda demanded using that same low whisper but her eyes made up the intensity she lacked in sound._

_“La estaci_ _ó_ _n qu_ _é_ _pasamos hace media hora.” He explained moving around to grab a bag for each of them. “S_ _ólo lo necesario. Regresaremos por lo demas despues.”_

.*. 

“Capt. Skye found us.” Louis sat at the kitchen island, eyes down cast as he remembered that day. Their car had broken down just a few days after they had separated from the main group. “Dad said he could fix it. There was a gas station a few miles back.”

Carol rested her hand on his arm, her expression sad. She had wondered many times how the Morales family had fared since leaving them and now she was learning their fate.

“Dad said either way wasn’t safe. We couldn’t stay in the car- separate. And walking to the gas station wasn’t going to be safer but we’d all be together… so we walked.” Louis remembers it was dark by the time they got there. Morales had made them wait outside while he checked inside for Walkers. He went in armed with his ‘bat’. “Dad always said we needed to use our Mexican ingenuity.” He smiled sadly. “He used a pipe.”

And the gas station attendant had been dispatched. They'd spent the night barricaded in the rank restroom.

“There was a herd.” Louis bent until his forehead touched the quartz. He felt the chills race over his skin and down his back. He couldn’t get rid of that feeling- the anxiety of knowing someone would die. He had no family left.

Waverly didn’t look away, her face set. She listened to Louis tell Carol what happened, how they were rescued…drifting into her own memory of that afternoon.

.*. 

_She fell. That’s what slowed the little family down. And while the man bent down to grab her some of the herd went in for the easy kill._

_“Take them down.”_

_She didn’t need to be told twice, her arrow found its mark before the words had left her Father's lips. A second and third cleared the closest ones to the couple while her Father ran towards them swinging his ax._

_The little girl was crying and Waverly turned her attention to the children. The boy hanging on to a pipe shoving her behind him. A couple arrows took care of the immediate threats to them-_

 .*.

“I thought it was Darryl.” Louis confesses, his dark eyes rising to meet Carol’s. “The Capt. was … he used the ax like a sword – sort of.” He looked over his shoulder to where Tenneyson snorted a soft laugh.

“Dad had a thing for that ax.” He shrugged. “Said it fit in his hands and it wasn’t hard to keep the blade sharp plus, it didn’t make noise.”

Carol nodded agreement. They'd learned quickly not to make noise if they wanted to live at least a few more hours.

“Waverly took down every walker in our way and we ran.” Louis sighs, hands clenched in his lap. “They saved us. Took us to their group.”

“I wondered if you were all safe.” Carol whispered, placing her hand on his arm. “I hoped.”

“Safe.” Waverly echoed. Her tone didn’t convey anything and Carol couldn’t decipher the lack of expression on the young woman’s face. “It’s a relative term.”

“Don’t get philosophical, Waves.” Tenneyson rolls his eyes and steps up behind Louis where he rests his hands on the kids shoulders. “I miss TV.” Because all he has now are books and he'd rather leave those to his sister.

 .*.

_They made it to a Wal-Mart warehouse. They were expected and the bay door was quickly rolled up for them to enter and shut behind them. Miranda had been crying silently the entire three hour trip while holding on to Eliza._

_A small group surrounded the truck as it pulled to a stop and the new-comers stepped out hesitantly. Hector moved around the truck, smiling when he caught sight of Zaila. She was in her scrubs, hands tucked into her pockets. For a moment he could picture himself walking to the front of her hospital while she waited at the doors watching him approach._

_He missed that smile._

_Waverly jumped out of the back of the truck. The boy helped down by Tenneyson who offered a smile and a pat on the head._

_“He’s not a dog, Tenney.” Waverly frowned. “Come on.” She nodded towards the dispersing group walking towards her parents._

_“You found another set.” Zaila smiled, relieved her husband and daughter had returned to her in one piece and safely._

_“I always do, love.” Hector placed a kiss on her lips and slid his arm over her shoulders turning to smile at the new family. “This is my wife-.”_

_“Zaila Skye.” She introduced herself, offering her hand to the adults and a soft smile to the children._

_“Doctor.” Hector added. “With a warehouse full of clothes…well, she knows what she likes.”_

_“I'm not picky.” Zaila shrugs. “As long as it’s clean.”_

_“You live in a warehouse.” Louis notes and quickly realizes he spoke aloud._

_“It beats the alternative, kid.” Tenneyson pops a chip into his mouth from the bag he opened on the short walk to the group. “Want some?” he offers it and waits patiently until Eliza takes a chip, then Louis. “We got more.” He looks at the adults, questioning. “I’ll take ‘em on a tour. Get them some drinks…”_

_“We have the perimeter secured.” Hector assures when Miranda tightens her grip on Eliza’s shoulders. “Those Walkers you saw outside keep scavengers away. There’s no danger inside. They’ll be safe with my son.”_

_“Cross my heart.” Tenneyson swears making the motion. It brings a slight smile to Eliza who finds him silly._

_“I’ll go with them.” Waverly moves to herd them away from the adults. “Let’s find some junk food.”_

 .*.

“The herds came.” Louis whispers. That’s his worst fear. That another herd will come, it’ll take everyone down and this time there wont be any survivors.

Tenneyson flexes his grip on Louis’ shoulders. He remembers that too and what he couldn’t do to keep his family together.

“My Dad bought our way out.” Waverly locks eyes with Carol. “He blew the warehouse. … Himself in it.”

Carol is shocked. “I'm… sorry.” She couldn’t think of anything else because the picture of what that might’ve looked like was in her head.

“You didn’t break the world.” Tenneyson shrugs. His usual note of humor is forced and she tries a sort of smile for the levity he's trying to bring into the room.

“She's staying.” Louis states. He grabs Carol's hand and turns up to Tenneyson and glances over at Waverly standing by the sink.

Tenneyson just sighs. _‘It’s like I'm not even here.’_ Because he knows the last word is Waverly’s.

“Is she?”

Carol, once again, can't decipher what the young woman is thinking.

“You left them.” Waverly crosses her arms and leans back on the counter. “Or they kicked you out.” She nods at the bags dropped by the door. “Those aren't just supplies. Its everything you own.”

Tenneyson noticed the same thing. They’ve all learned to pack their lives into a bag- a lesson learned from their Father and re-learned when the world died.

“Why else be out here on your own.” Waverly continued when Carol didn’t speak.

“My car…” Carol felt her throat close up on the lie, her eyes finding Louis questioning.

“Broke it, did you?” Tenneyson smirks. He shrugs like it’s not so unusual let alone a big deal. “Happens a lot now.”

“I was trying to get another.” Carol explains.

“You know how to hot-wire a car?” Waverly pushes away from the counter and takes two steps closer. “Louis didn’t mention that. You are missing something though…”

“Sophia?” Louis turns to Carol, his silent question answered by the negative shake of her head.

Waverly ignores Carol's brimming tears. “Did you leave her?” she doesn’t know if Carol had the strength to stick a knife in her own child’s head but she certainly hopes Sophia wasn’t left out there somewhere, a walking corpse.

Tenneyson throws a sharp glance at his sister but she ignores him. As usual. Instead, he focuses on Carol. “Where are the others of your group?”

“NO.” Waverly drops her crossed arms, eyes narrowed and focused on her brother.

“If it’s safe-.”

“NO.” Waverly cuts his off.

“It’s a prison.” Carol interjects.

“See?” Tenneyson takes that as a positive though he knows it’s not going to matter. “Fence? Bars? Why not?”

“Fences come down.” Waverly snaps. “You can't get food from a locked cell.” Which is what would happen if they somehow got a herd of Walkers over running the place. “And you can't grow a vegetable garden in cement.”

“Waves…” Tenneyson sighs.

“NO.” she is adamant. “No more groups.” No more people to get close to. No more ties, no more losing a member to Walkers or fever. Just no more loss.

“But… Carol.” Louis stands up. “She can stay. Please?”

“…the people… in my group- at the prison. They’ve gotten sick.” She's uncomfortable, too close to the reason Rick told her to leave. “Flu. It-.”

“Kills.” Waverly finished. The silence lengthened in the kitchen. Carol wondered how they would know about the flu and the results. Waverly deciding if Carol was worth the risk of keeping simply because she's someone that Louis knew from before he lost his family.

“We had it.” Tenneyson throws into the silence.

“You?” Carol quickly stands up. Her eyes going from Louis to Waverly and Tenneyson with worry.

“My Mom…” Louis slowly stands up. “Eliza too.”

Tenneyson can see the tension in Carol, the way she's looking at them all… “Our Mom.” He grabs her attention. “And a few others- most of our group.”

“The ones who didn’t fall to a Walker.” Waverly corrects.

“But you…?” Carol backs up one more step, a lot closer to the door and Waverly doesn’t miss that.

“No one is forcing you to stay.” She nods to the kitchen door they ran in through moments ago. “There's the door.”

Because Carol is practically half out the door already, afraid of getting sick when she's seen what the results are. She's survived the past few weeks on her own, no sign of that deadly flu…

“Waverly.” Tenneyson warns softly because he can see the hurt ghosting over Louis’ face.

“You want the elephant with us?” she demands of her brother. “I mean,” she turns to include Louis with her angry stare. “You hear that right?” she hooks a thumb over her shoulder towards Carol who abruptly stops moving around.

Carol hadn't realized how quiet they were or how loud she was. Her boots make too much noise on the hardwood floors. And even Louis seems to have learned to walk softly.

“No to the prison.” Waverly states. “No to more people.” She looks at Louis. “Teach her silence because we didn’t survive a zombie flu to die because of her hoofs.”

Tenneyson looks up at the ceiling and sighs as his sister silently storms out of the kitchen. He glances at Carol and offers an apologetic smile. “She's really …”

“Nice?” Carol wonders.

Tenneyson shrugs a shoulder. She had been, nice, at one time. He could remember what his sister had been like before they came ‘home’ and found it was all dead. But they'd had Mom and Dad so it hadn't felt like the end of the world. Not when they had each other… but Mom and Dad were gone now. It was just the two of them and while Waverly was protective of Louis it still wasn’t enough to fill the loss of their parents. Nothing was ever going to make their pain go away.

“Yeah,” he agrees. Because before the world died and zombies killed their parents they'd both been ‘nice’.

“It’s alright.” Carol assures. “I understand.”

His eyes fall to her feet when she moves towards the door to retrieve her bags. “Silence is golden.” He points out when she straightens up. “That’s a big deal with us.” He smiles. “The spare room is down that hall. Please don’t remove the barricades or shades. Oh, no lights. I mean, after sunset. We’ve got candles set up. Don’t knock ‘em over please. Don’t want to burn down our ‘fortress’.”

 .*.

Up on the roof, Waverly perches in her usual spot bow strung and a full quiver of arrows.

It starts with one. That’s all it’s going to take and she wonders why Tenneyson doesn’t realize that. Or maybe he has and doesn’t care? She's angry. They’ll find a second one and their group will grow to five and then six and then a dozen or more. Too big of a group to go unnoticed, to hide easily. And they’ll run out of food faster, have to go searching for sustenance, risk the danger of all that noise. The noise level goes up, personalities clash … fever … it’s too damn risky.

Tenneyson is all the family she has in this crazy world trying its best to kill them. She's not going to risk losing him over strangers that can't survive on their own in the new jungle the world has been turned into.

Down the block, Waverly spots a Walker heading into her space.

That’s what the arrows were for.


	3. Going Down Swinging

 

The Walkers come out of nowhere and they come out fast. Bad luck is what Carol would say except that they didn’t run into trouble while scavenging for gas. Each one had a full gallon- the bright red ones Tenneyson, Waverly, Louis and the few survivors took from the warehouse.

Tenneyson and Louis return to the SUV first. They can hear Carol approaching and that means Waverly has to be in a bad mood. In the days following Carol's arrival and all the noise from the flash bang, Walkers have moved into the neighborhood. Both Tenneyson and Waverly have gone out to clean up the block but it’s not enough.

“Jeez,” Waverly grumbles softly. “How have you survived this long making all that noise?” her dark gray eyes narrow on Carol clomping along beside her.

“Carefully.” Carol replies with dry amusement. The past few days in close quarters with the Skye's and Louis have opened her eyes. They’ve all lost someone – more than one someone – and they’ve dealt with the aftermath in their own ways. A few days away from the safety, the familiarity of her surroundings, of the people she's come to love and those girls left to her care – a second chance to raise a child but this time in a broken version of the world she had given birth to Sophia, haven’t exactly grown regret for her actions. Carol would still do the same, still take those infected out and burn them because it’s the safest response to the threat they posed. But maybe now, she’d think twice about doing it on the sly, of taking it upon herself to make the choice and carry out the sentence.

“Here.” Waverly hands over the full tank to her brother and motions for Louis to hop inside the SUV. “You too.” She says to Carol, eyes dropping to her heavy boots. “Where you’ll be quieter.”

“Thank you.” Carol smiles and takes the empty red tank. “For your concern.”

Tenneyson chuckles, ducking his head when his sister looks his way. She doesn’t say anything, just takes her bow and moves to the back of the SUV. He offers Carol a wink and tips the can until its making chugging sounds as the gas fills the tank.

Louis straps the empty to the roof of the car. He leans over to reach for the second tank Carol holds up for him. The sunroof was a custom job, or so Tenneyson said when they came across it at the first house they took refuge in.

The whistle of Waverly's first arrow thunks into a Walker with a sick squish. Louis jerks upright and fumbles the cord securing the empty gas cans. It bangs onto the roof making more noise for the Walkers to lock in on.

“Here.” Carol hops up and helps tie it down. They’ve been on the road just a day, too far from the house they left when the loud explosions started drawing more Walkers into the small town. At first they tried heading away from the sounds of the explosions but the large herd of walking dead coming their way forced them to turn around.

“Behind!” Louis yelps, hand jabbing behind Tenneyson who hands the half empty can to Carol and takes his bow from the passenger seat.

“Shut up and lock yourselves in.” Waverly orders as more Walkers come from behind them.

Louis doesn’t hesitate to do as she tells him. He knows the rules; he knows what happens to people who don’t follow the rules. Louis also knows that Waverly wouldn’t tell him to do something that would put him in danger.

Tenneyson knows exactly what his sister is thinking. He glances at Carol hesitating to close the back door to the SUV and gives her a curt nod. “Stay down.”

“We need high ground.” Waverly moves next to him, an arrow knocked.

“No rooftops.” He groans.

“Barricades get us trapped.” She points out.

Tenneyson sinks an arrow into a walker moving closer. He knows their options are limited and staying to fight it out with a herd is not going to save any of them. “Fine.” He grumbles under his breath. “Hey!” he bangs his hand on the SUV’s hood and waves his arms around whistling through his teeth. “You want fresh meat?” he taunts. “Right here baby! Come and get it!”

“Let’s find ‘Main Street’.” Waverly urges moving beside her brother as they sprint down the block.

-*- 

Louis tries to breathe slowly but he jerks with every single bump the SUV receives. There are thunks and hissing and stumbles as Walker upon Walker smack into the SUV. It doesn’t escape either of them, that the SUV is the only thing between death by Walkers and life.

Carol reaches out and takes Louis’ hand in hers. She offers him a wobbly reassuring smile that he returns and is quickly wiped out when the SUV gets jostled once again. Carol remembers the herd that forced Sophia to run. The hours she spent worried for her little girl, praying to what God there still was that she’d be safe, still alive…

It’s not as long as they feel it takes for the Walkers to thin out. Carol pushes those memories away. She has to ignore that pain and focus on the moment she's in if they're going to survive.

Carol risks a peek out of the back seat window. She can see a few Walkers milling about, but most of the herd is gone.

“What are you doing?” Louis whispers seeing her hop into the front seat.

“We should help them.” Carol grabs the key.

“They’ll come back.” Louis assures. “Waverly is gonna be mad if we aren't here when they get back.”

“Louis, they could get hurt.” The SUV purrs to life. “They could be cut off, or … No, we’re going to look for them.” She focuses on the two Walkers turning towards them. She puts the SUV in drive and accelerates. She takes them down without hesitation, she's taken down her share and its gotten easier. All she had to do at first was picture _his_ face. Ed Peletier.

“They won’t.” Louis is anxious. Carol isn't following the rules and people die like that.

“How do you know?” Carol looks into the rearview mirror, glancing at Louis and at the road where she’s left two corpses.

“Because Capt. Skye trained them.” Louis is quick to answer. He sat at the ‘camp fire’ same as Eliza to hear the stories of Hector Skye the pilot. The adventures he’d tell them, of the places he'd been to and the things he’d done. Capt. Skye had been the storyteller – giving them something else to think about that didn’t involve zombies trying to eat them.

“That’s not the same.” Carol shakes her head. “No one was ever trained for something like this.”

“They were.” Louise re-iterates. “Dr. Skye used to tease the Capt. of knowing, like someone gave him the heads up. He raised Tenn and Waverly like he knew the world was gonna get broken.”

“Did he know?” Carol didn’t think anyone who knew this would happen could've let it come to pass. But that the government had somehow screwed up a biological weapon? Well, that certainly seemed likely. Wasn’t the government always covering something up? Even when they ‘told the truth’ they didn’t tell you all of it.

“He didn’t say.” Louis shrugs. “But Dr. Skye seemed to know what was happening when people started getting sick. The fever? She told Waverly what medicine to get and what places they could find it.”

Carol turned into the next street. If they knew… if only they'd known- just a few days ago, if somehow they'd have come across Louis and the Skye's just a few weeks back …

_‘Lizzie.’_

The thought of another child dying…especially Lizzie. She was Carol's responsibility- she made a promise and if she can get Waverly to the prison… Carol is sure Rick will listen. He and the others will give her a chance to explain, to help them.

-*-

Its not the safest place but they couldn’t get any farther without gas and spending the night out in the open after all the noise from a few days ago…? No, that wasn’t a smart option.

She's been crying on and off. Every chance she gets where she thinks he can't hear or see her.

“Hey.” He's quiet coming into the office where she's huddled into the corner. He's got a bag of food scavenged from the building next door that he holds out to her.

“Thanks.” Beth takes it from him, trying to hide the fresh tears. He doesn’t tell her not to cry, he doesn’t say much anyway but Daryl does understand.

Daryl just nods. He goes to the window and props himself on the wall where he can see the street. The sounds of the wrapping and the twist of the cap on the bottle of water he found for her is all the sounds in the office they're hiding in.

He's been trying not to think about the attack- all the destruction… he'd kick himself for being such a damn fool. Who ever said that place was going to be home anyhow? But he'd been the jack ass that started believing it was a place he'd –

_“Go! Go!”_

Daryl frowns into the street, looking for the low voiced shouts that carry clearly in the dead town.

Beth stands up, her eyes wide with apprehension, more so when she sees Daryl grab his weapons.

“Sshh.” Daryl orders and motions her to stick close when she refuses to stay put while he finds out whos out there.

-*- 

There are two Walkers close on their ass and more turning their way. His sister’s soft shout only turned them faster.

“Up, hurry.” She calls to him from the 2nd floor landing of the building they’ve run into. She's worried for her brother more than she is about leaving Luis and the Elephant with the SUV.

“They're coming up faster than usual.” Tenneyson whispers at her back. He has their Father's ax in his hand.

“Roof.” She ignores the eye roll from her brother and starts towards the ‘Exit’ at the end of the hall.

“Do you really want to get stuck on the roof?” Tenneyson would rather they ran out the back but knowing his sister she would be more likely to try jumping across the building. He doubts they are that close together.

“Better than behind a door-.” She barely has a chance to duck the decomposing body lunging at her from the door she pulls open. “Ugh!” she wipes the goop of mushy brain and blood off her arm. She glances behind her brother and shoves him aside; her bow and an arrow coming up and taking down the Walker lumbering up the stairs. It flies back and knocks down the rest of the Walkers.

“We could try taking them down from up here.” Tenneyson proposes though he doesn’t like that plan.

“The buildings don’t look that far on the left side.” Waverly heads back towards the stairs, carefully checking the doors on the right side while her brother looks into the ones on the left.

“God – do you want to kill us?” Tenneyson breathes, scowling at the Walkers stumbling over each other.

“I'm trying to get us out of this town.” Waverly drops two more Walkers and stops herself from taking down more because she can't retrieve those arrows. She can see the Walkers climbing up the stairs, too many and she's thinking the herd followed them – or they ran straight into it.

“That’s more than I remember outside, Waves.” Tenneyson pulls her back, away from the stairs.

“It might be the herd…” Waverly breathes. Because even if they do make it to the roof, jumping to the building next to it wont get them away from a herd.

“In here.” Tenneyson motions her to hurry into the doorway he's standing in.

Waverly spots the Walkers coming up from behind and drops the one reaching for her brother. “Go, I’ll be fine.” She ducks into the office closest to her finding it empty. “I’ll see you up there.” She calls before shutting the door on the Walkers flooding the hallway. She has a last glimpse of her little brother, that hesitation and frustration on his face because they're separating.

They’ve only ever had one rule aside from the ‘Don’t die’ and that’s been _never_ to get separated.

Waverly drags a desk over, hurrying around it to shove it against the door then banging on the frosted glass to draw the Walkers away from Tenneyson. She jumps back when they smack into it. There's a crack running down its center. Waverly knows its going to give and hurries to the far side of the office. There's a wall of windows and without hesitation she goes out the first one she can pry open. The ledge is wide enough she doesn’t have to cling to the façade. Its not as easy to climb up the brick face but she manages to drag herself to the third floor.

-*- 

The noise in the back room alerts Tenneyson to the fact he's not alone and the only things he's more likely to run into are Walkers.

“Damn.” He looks to the door but there's no way he can get out that way –

“Who are you?”

Tenneyson jumps, startled by the sound of another person. And then he frowns at the crossbow aimed at him.

“I'm the landlord.” He flashes a quick smile thinking Waverly wouldn’t be happy with his quips. “Came by to collect the rent.”

Daryl shifts, crossbow lowering slightly though he doesn’t stop scowling. “Smart ass.” He eyes the bow strapped to the kids back and the quiver of arrows. There's the ax loosely held in one hand-

“We should go.” Beth leans into the reception office and spots the guy with the ax.

“Uh-huh.” Tenneyson nods and takes a step around Daryl. “But not that way.” He points the ax behind him making Daryl even more nervous. “Dude…” he stops, eyes crossing when he stares at the arrow poking his nose.

“Walkers.” Beth whispers backing away from the outer door.

“Personal space.” Tenneyson raises his hand, index finger pushing the arrow off his nose. “Just because the work broke, doesn’t mean we ignore-.”

“Shut up.” Daryl orders glancing to the door and the thuds against it.

“Rude.” Tenneyson can see the confusion flitting over Daryl’s face, his eyes skipping over to Beth. His quips have the red neck off his game because there's no doubt in Tenneyson's mind that he'd be dead already.

Daryl is annoyed and confused by the apparent pleasant attitude-

“Well,” Tenneyson flashes another perfunctory smile. “Nice meeting you.” He steps around Daryl and the crossbow. “Lock up on your way out. We don’t want vagrants just walking in.”

Daryl's first reaction is anger and they follow Tenneyson to the back office where they had been resting.  He doesn’t appreciate the kid ignoring the lethality of his crossbow. “Hey-.”

The window is easy for Tenneyson to shove open and the ledge is wide enough for him to stand on.

“What the hell are you going?” Daryl grabs the back of Tenneyson and yanks to bring him back inside.

“Hot date.” Tenneyson grins, not at all fighting the manhandling because unlike his sister, Tenneyson likes the rare conversations with people other than her. Or Louis. And Carol…

“You hit your head?” Daryl frowns. He glances towards Beth. “He aint right.”

Beth ignores that, she finds Tenneyson amusing though she's afraid as well but her main concern is finding out if he's seen the others. She can hope he's run across someone else from the prison. “Are there more in your group? What are you doing here?”

“Told you,” Tenneyson eyes them. “Came for the rent.” He's looking for the advantage. Just because Beth is a girl – a small one and scrawny – un-armed though that doesn’t mean she's easy to get past. Darryl seems more predictable but looks _are_ deceiving so…

“Look,” Beth steps closer. “We don’t want trouble.” She sighs, disappointed at still having no answers. Will she ever see her sister again? “You go your way. We’ll go ours.”

“I had no intention of inviting you guys to dinner.” Tenneyson assures, he glances at the door where the Walkers are pushing against it. “And even less of sticking around. Exit here, dudes.” He motions them to follow and quickly climbs out onto the ledge. He shuffles towards the back of the building and the ever present fire escape.

Daryl looks out spotting Tenneyson just disappearing around the back of the building. They hear the glass on the door break and he motions for Beth to get on the ledge. She clings to the brick face while Daryl does his best to lower the window enough to stall the Walkers for a little bit.

They follow after Tenneyson and Daryl's not sure how to feel about the kid – aside from annoyed. _What the hell is so funny?_ Why does the kid behave so at ease when they know this world is a daily fight to the death. And Daryl’s worried there might be a big group attached to the kid, out there, somewhere … but what can they do?  He wonders if the others have some place safe, if Carol is alright… maybe with this imagined group-

Glass breaks somewhere close. He looks up, his crossbow awkwardly raised. There's someone else on the third floor – a girl, he can tell because she has long black hair- maybe part of that group he assumes the kid is with. She stumbles backwards, out of the ‘exit’ with an arrow jammed into a Walkers face. There are two more behind it pushing her to the railing, grabbing for her. Daryl takes one with a lucky arrow. The second one goes over the side…

So does the girl.

-*- 

Waverly feels that free fall. A second of panic and then she forces herself to reach and grab instead of flailing. She hears her name, a sharp tug on her arm and then the harsh impact of her face with the metal bars. Her glove rips and she's flailing again before she's able to grab and hold onto the metal railing. Her foot hits the metal rail on the next landing and she teeters a second before gravity yanks her back.

She hits the huge dumpster on her side. The world goes off its axis and the echo in her head hurts enough everything goes black.

-*- 

“No,” Tenneyson breathes. “No, no, nononononono!” he jumps over the side ignoring Daryl and Beth's worried shouts. Then he jumps to the dumpster and the ground. He drops to his knees and he's very gentle with Waverly; he’s afraid of hurting her worse than she possibly is. He checks her pulse before thinking of moving her, then her head. There's blood on her face, scratches on her face and scrapes from the asphalt.

She doesn’t react. At all, not after the first flutter of lashes and the soft groan.

“She break anything?” Daryl questions. He looks back at Beth and helps her off the dumpster.

Tenneyson glances at them over his shoulder. “It’s fine.”

“Do…Can we help?” Beth hesitates to ask.

“We do this all the time.” Tenneyson quips but he's very carefully slipping his arms under Waverly.

“Let’s go.” Daryl takes a few steps away from the pair and frowns when she doesn’t follow. “Beth.”

Beth doesn’t want to get involved. She knows it would be dangerous, because helping people hasn’t brought them anything but suffering and she's tired of it. But she doesn’t want to leave them hurt either, that’s not what her Father would do…

“See ya.” Tenneyson mutters, tentatively picking her up.

Daryl and Beth can tell he's afraid to pick up Waverly. They all hear the soft rumble of an engine. Daryl and Beth hope its one of theirs but they can't be sure. They aren't that close to the prison…

Tenneyson’s not sure Carol and Louis stayed put and right now he's not mad if they ignored the rule. He doesn’t want to walk into another herd because he can't protect them with Waverly in his arms and he can't outrun Walkers with her either.

 _‘I should've held on.’_ He frowns because then he'd have his hands free and there’d be two archers. His sister wouldn’t be passed out- they way she smacked her head…

_“I don’t see them.”_

Tenneyson recognizes the voice and hurries towards the street. “Yo!” he winces but he's not going to hang around and wait for Walkers to head their way. “Hit the brakes.”

“Wait!” Louis turns to Carol then hangs his head out the window looking as Tenneyson comes into view. He jumps out of the passenger seat and hurries to open the back door when he sees them. “Is she…?”

“Hey.” Daryl stops on the sidewalk.

Louis looks past Tenneyson, he squints but it’s not difficult to recognize; “Daryl?”

Daryl looks confused and Beth glances at him wondering how the boy would know him.

“It’s Daryl.” Louis repeats with a glance into the SUV.

Daryl and Beth walk closer, still hesitant … until they see the salt and pepper head poking out of the passenger side.

“Carol?”

-*- 

 


	4. For With Are Many

 

_Its quiet._

_The sun shining down on the meadow where the trio moves as one._

_“How much longer?” Tenneyson straightens out of the half crouch and pouts._

_“Will you_ shut up _?” Waverly hisses in a semi-whispered growl._

_“You are both too loud.”_

_The siblings fall silent at his words, the tone as familiar as their own._

_“As long as you have been with me,” he sighs shaking his head. “As much as I have tried to teach you the way-.”_

_“The way of the warrior, yeah.” Tenneyson rolls his eyes. “Come on, you know you make most of this up.”_

_“He does not.” Waverly defends. “Read a book, dummy.”_

_“I read-.”_

_“Manga doesn’t count.” Waverly cuts in._

_“Enough.”_

_Again, the siblings quiet immediately._

_“Your Father will be here in a few days.”_

_And then … well, its back to a life they can barely remember living._

**.*.**

Waverly wakes up. Her face hurts, so does her head. It’s kinda dark and she wonders if Tenneyson found them a safe place to hole up. She remembers the events just before blacking out but sitting up makes her want to puke. She grits her teeth and struggles out of the bed she hopes her brother put her in. The windows in the room are boarded up but some light peeks through the edges. At the door, Waverly drags in a breath and squeezes her eyes shut for just a second. The nausea subsides so she carefully opens the door, trying her best to keep it quiet. She has no idea where she is or if her brother is alright…

In the hall, she braces a hand on the wall and takes a few steps forward. She can hear the singing and frowns because it’s not Tenneyson's voice and it definitely sounds too sweet to be Carol's, so … “What the…?”

“Guess she's not a fan of that song.”

“No… f-ing _way_.” Waverly repeats because she is certain that is her little brothers teasing voice. “This better not … _Tenneyson Skye!_ ” it’s a hissed whisper just a little louder than she’d normally dare. It gets results and she's glaring at her brother poking his head around the corner trying to keep whatever is in his arms hidden.

“Waves!” Tenneyson sounds nervously upbeat. That tells her more than if he’d come right out and admit to what she's going to yell at him for anyway.

“ _What_ the fuck?” Waverly demands watching her brother approach. And behind him is a visual of the fussy baby he can't pretend she didn’t hear. Her eyes narrow on the blond girl – very clearly _not_ Carol.

“I can expl-.”

“A _baby?_ ” Waverly demands with a weak fist smacking his arm. “Are you fucking retarded!” the sound of her raised voice sets the baby off again and she glares at the blond girl unable to keep the cherubic siren on silent.

Tenneyson sighs, eyes turned to the ceiling. He can hear the tread of running feet and knows his sister will too.

“NO.” Waverly shoves him aside and gapes at the two girls frozen on either side of the hall. The heavy tread of Carol’s steps pauses as well.

“Just give it a chance.” Tenneyson urges reaching for her shoulder.

“NO!” Waverly shrugs him off, her eyes narrowing on the loudly crying baby.

“Sorry.” Tenneyson apologizes moving around his sister but not before she sees them all start to walk away. And Carol ushering the girls back to the main floor. “Do you remember when silence was golden?” Tenneyson demands facing his sister once again.

“Do you!” Waverly yells at him. “NO groups! Tenneyson, I said no groups- a baby?” she grabs at her hair wincing because it hurts her head more. “Damn it! A _crying_ baby- what the hell were you thinking!”

“That you needed help.” He is quick to reply.

“Bull shit.” Waverly jabs a finger at his chest.

“You were- _are_ hurt, Waves. You fell three stories.” He points out.

“So you had us join a _group_?!” she exclaims, which only aggravates the huge pins being shoved into her brain. “With crying babies- and kids. Shut up.” She shoves at his chest with both hands. “Pack your stuff.” She orders stumbling against the wall.

“You should rest.”

Waverly squints, staring at the guy with the shaggy haircut and sleeveless shirt standing at the end of the hall. She hadn't heard him come up.

“Thanks.” Waverly grabs her brothers shirt. “I’ll take two and call you in the morning.” She retorts frowning at the sighed eye roll from the stranger. Beside him, Carol smiles and offers a shrug as she steps into the hallway.

“I see the resemblance.” Daryl notes.

“I like her more when she's sleeping.” Tenneyson shrugs. “Ouch.” He pulls his leg up, away from his sisters foot because he knows she has a bad habit of kicking him. “Look,” he frowns. “We aren't going anywhere.”

“We are _not_ staying.” Waverly is adamant. And she's stubborn enough to stumble her way out of the house if that’s what its going to take.

“They know Louis.” Tenneyson waves his hand in the general direction of the pair at the end of the hall. “Them, not the others.” He glances over his shoulder to where Daryl and Carol are watching them. “Sorry.” He apologizes because his sister is making a big fuss, just like he knew she would.

Daryl just nods, the kid makes him laugh. Sometimes, well it doesn’t really annoy him as much now that he's been stuck with the kid a few days.

“I don’t give a shit.” Waverly snaps. “We’re not staying. _No groups_.”

“Fine.” Tenneyson glares. “We can go when you're not about to pass out.”

“I'm not.” Waverly denies but she is unsteady on her feet and there's doubles of her little brother.

“Right,” Tenneyson scoffs. He tries to grab her arms but she brushes him off. “So you're not swaying like that time you got drunk on sake.”

“I wasn’t drunk.” She denies.

Tenneyson throws his hands up, exasperated and looks at Carol and Daryl with the universal ‘You see what I'm dealing with?’ that Waverly doesn’t miss.

**.*.**

Beth keeps Judith content, singing to the baby softly on the couch while the ‘grown-ups’ introduce themselves to Waverly. Its been a day since they first met…

“We were at a prison…” Tyrese trails off.

“Yeah, Carol told us about your prison.” Waverly glances at their Elephant seeing the discomfort pass over her face. “We noticed ‘the walking dead’ in our neighborhood. More than there had been before we started to clean up. It wasn’t safe anymore.” She shrugs gingerly because her body still hurts, as well as her head but the dim lighting is easier to stand than full on daylight. They wont let her sleep anymore, Tenneyson says two days is more than enough.

“They were attacked by another group.” Carol already heard this from Tyrese and then from Daryl and Beth. She's been wondering, the same as everyone else, how many others made it out safely…

Waverly looks meaningfully at her brother. “No. Groups.” She re-iterates. “And that’s why.” Though her main reason was growing attached to people that would only die off eventually. They'd be eaten, get bit, or die of the fever… they would all die and the only thing Waverly cared about was making sure her little brother survived. She just didn’t know what they were surviving for, aside that something inside her, refused to let her give up and die.

“Waves,” Tenneyson sighs. “Would you let them finish before you start planning our leave?”

She just sits back and crosses her arms waiting silently to hear the sad, soppy story of how they all ended up together and then, how it all came crashing down. What made them think their sob story was any less tragic than theirs? Or someone else’s? Everyone in the world had lost more than one someone to this apocalypse. Why did these people have to feel so entitled to that feeling? What made them any different than her family had been?

“Tyrese found us.”

Waverly focuses on the skinny little blond girl. Its creepy, the way she fiddles with the knife in her hand but then, its become a favored weapon- a necessity to stay alive.

“They had Judith.” The big black man adds. “They…saved me.”

“We killed her.” The little blond girl chimes in. “The woman that was going to shoot him. We killed her first.”

Waverly sucks in a breath. She shouldn’t be shocked, it’s a kill or be killed world they live in now and haven’t they killed plenty too? But this little girl…there's something dead in her eyes, the tone of her voice- sort of detached, like killing another human being isn't the traumatic event it is for people in the 21st century.

“Lizzie…” Carol notices that look, she gets up and ushers her to the opposite side of the living room where her sister is sitting with Beth and the baby.

“There's something wrong with that kid.” Waverly mutters.

“Somethin’ wrong with all of us.” Daryl snaps glaring at her. Its not that he hasn’t noticed the kid is slightly skewed but then they are living in a world where the dead come to life and try to _eat you._

“She didn’t mean it like that.” Tenneyson apologizes but he's noticed the same thing. Out of all the kids, Lizzie is the coldest – even Louis doesn’t behave like her and he's done some killing too.

“I did mean it.” Waverly glares at her brother. “Quit apologizing for me, Tenn. Do you see Louis acting like that?” she points to where Lizzie is looking over at them. Listening.

“You want to leave so bad, there's the door.” Daryl points to the barricaded entrance.

“Daryl-.” Tenneyson protest.

“What?” Daryl glares. “No groups. That’s what she wants. We’re still gonna look for the rest of ours.”

“Have a nice trip.” Waverly shakes her head. “Good luck avoiding scavengers wanting a piece of the girls. Or evading a herd-." she leans forward pointing out the survivors huddled in the living room of the borrowed house they've claimed. "You should be thinking about the ones you’ve already found and keeping them alive as long as you're able to.” She pushes off the couch, hating to look weak when Tenneyson pulls her to her feet. “We all end up dead in the end.”

Tenneyson herds her towards the stairs looking at the group over his shoulder-

“Don’t apologize for me!” Waverly snaps, punctuating the hissed order with a back handed smack to his midsection.

**.*.**

Louis tries to sneak in her room quietly but she can hear him all the same.

“Quit moving so fast.” Her voice whispers towards him from the window seat and the shafts of moon light streaking through the cracks in the curtain.

“What's the point?” Louis replies. “You still hear me.” But he's trying to tread lightly as he moves across the room to sit beside her. “We can't go.”

Waverly sighs. She figured that’s what he'd say –

“We can't. I don’t want to leave Carol or Daryl.”

“They have their people, Louis.” Waverly looks at him. “They’ll be putting themselves in danger looking for the missing ones. They’ve got a friggin baby!” she glares turning to look out the window into the front yard. “That kid is like a siren calling every damn Walker right to us.”

“Judith.” Louis says. He ducks his head and whispers; “She's Carl’s baby sister.”

Waverly sighs, her head resting against the wall. She knows about Carl, his Mom, his Dad, their cop friend that had ‘felt off’ to Louis… She doesn’t say anything, just waits for Louis to tell her what he needs to say.

“…Tyreese, Lizzie, Micah and Judith were following the train tracks to a safe place… but they got cut off – too many Walkers.” He sighs and looks up. “They were here, they heard Daryl's new bike. We almost ran over Tyreese when he ran out to make Daryl shut up.”

“Bike?” Waverly frowns. “Like tatted-up, _Son’s of Anarchy_ bike, like that kind of bike?”

“Uh,” Louis nods hesitantly. “It’s a Harley.”

“God… _damn it_ , Tenneyson.” She breathes out and turns to the door where her little brother is closing it behind him.

“Yup,” he nods crossing the room. “Daryl has a bike. He picked it up as we were leaving town. Almost got stuck behind the herd-.”

“We ran through them.” Louis chimes in.

“Awesome.” Waverly rolls her eyes. “I'm out a couple of hours and you start inviting every tom, dick and jane to roll with us. A baby?” she glares at Tenneyson. “And now we got a hog riding red-neck roaring down the road alerting every Zombie in the vicinity-. How the hell are we supposed to survive with these idiots?” she demands feeling her head start to pound yet again.

“Be. Nice.” Tenneyson orders, his eyes narrowed on her face. “Carol has put up with your sour ‘tude and bitchiness for him.” He points to Louis. “She cleaned you up, Waverly. Her and Beth- she's the scrawny blond girl.” He adds because he knows Waverly hasn’t been paying attention to who is who. “They cleaned up the blood and your scratches, they friggin cared for you because even in this apocalyptic, zombie infested world we’ve inherited, I'm still not allowed to-.”

“You say ‘sponge bath’ and I will hurt you!” Waverly cuts in.

“They didn’t.” Louis assures with just a slight wrinkling of his nose.

“You don’t smell like roses either, kid.” Waverly retorts but she's relieved not to have that embarrassment to live down.

“Look,” Tenneyson breathes out a long sigh. “By the time we got flagged down by Tyreese you'd already been out for a day and we didn’t have anywhere else to go. Its not like there's a hospital available. Carol knew him, so did Daryl and Beth. Please, he had the girls with him and …Waves, they can't survive out there alone.”

“And why the hell should I care?” Waverly demands. “Why is it our job to carry them?”

“Carry…? Waverly-.”

“Because its what the Capt. would do.” Louis says into their silence. “He did it for us; for my Mom and Dad and Eliza.”

“What he said.” Tenneyson nods, whole-heartedly agreeing.

Waverly still doesn’t like the idea of a baby and more people. They can't make her like it.

  **.*.**


	5. Tomorrow Never Knows

Waverly hasn’t spoken a word since they made their decision. She would've been happy to stay behind. Except the dumbass named Tenneyson volunteers for the outing like its a stroll in the woods in a world that hasn’t broken. She puts her foot down and refuses to allow Louis join them. No matter how much the kid insists.  Or that they would both rather she stays behind as well.

"One idiot is enough." She had said, glaring at her brother. Daryl's snicker didn't go unnoticed by either of the siblings, or Carol for that matter. Another one that Waverly refuses to allow on the scavenging outing.

After a week of being cooped up and treated like an invalid and constantly worried more 'zombies' would hear that little siren … Waverly is glad to be out, no matter the danger involved.

"We should check these for gas." Tenneyson points to the abandoned cars 'parked' on what would have been sidewalks. They’ve only gone one town over from the house they’ve had her locked up, 'for her health'. They're hoping for some food and no trouble = Walkers.

Daryl grabs his crossbow and jumps out of the SUV, aiming at nothing and everything. Waverly rolls her eyes - she's a tad annoyed - that’s all she verbally admits. She's just tired, angry and least flattering … afraid.

She rounds the SUV, towards the back where Tenneyson has the extra gas cans. She stops to grab her quiver and bow, before picking up the hose and two cans. She's been ignoring the lingering glances and kept her distance. They will not be staying long no matter what her brother is thinking. Waverly is still working on a way to get him to leave.

The difficulty in making the decision will be Louis. The kid won't want to leave Carol, or this redneck. Waverly frowns at Daryl's back; how does he forgive the loss of his brother? The only family left to him in this broken monstrosity they’ve inherited. Even if that brother was an asshole.

She looks at Tenneyson, siphoning gas into their 2nd can. He's 6'2", lean muscle, dark hair just long enough she could yank him … oh, maybe a step or two before he picks her up and uses the boy muscles to make her let go. He's the mirror image of their Father, with the same shade of their Mother's blue-green eyes. Waverly still has the pictures to prove it.

She's more upset by the life they've been forced into because the world they’ve inherited from the lunatics in power. Men playing at God … and women too. What the hell gave them the right? Who said it was okay for them to do _this_?

"You're thinking." Tenneyson notes without glancing at his sister. He doesn’t need to.

"Always," Waverly replies. "I'm the smart one." She points out with a smirk in her voice. It gets a chuckle from her brother but he just shakes his head instead of adding his own smart ass remark.

Daryl doesn’t understand a word of the funny sounds they're making... He sees them together, brother and sister… He's thinking of Beth and Maggie. But its still not the same. He's never had either kind of relationship with Merle and yet … well, he can still miss the son of a bitch. Daryl can be sad about the loss and hate what he was forced to do. Experiencing Merle's death twice- because once, apparently hadn't been enough.

He's struck by her smile. It's not much of one, just a small lift of her lips, kinda lopsided but what really grabs him is the expression. Daryl hasn’t seen much of what love looks like. But it seems easy to spot when it’s the real thing, when its complete and selfless. He saw it with Tenneyson when Waverly was hurt. Daryl just assumed the two where 'together'. If it weren't for Beth and Carol forcing the big kid out of the room to get his own rest, Waverly would have woken up to her brother passed out at her side.

Daryl's not sure he likes the ache in his chest. Doesn’t want to admit he gets that little pain anytime he starts to think about family, about love and it's not like it's about fucking. That isn't even an issue - hell, even  a redneck shit like him has gone up in appreciation. What with the world they live in now…

"Come on," he calls to them. "Let's find some food." He keeps his voice soft, lower than usual and he doesn’t think much about why.

_Silence is golden._

It's their thing, what the siblings say instead of 'Shut the fuck up before you get us killed making all that racket'.

The trio walks into the little store, it’s the closest thing to a grocery store in the tiny hick town. They don’t find anyone; dead , alive or undead. There's a few cans among the rotting vegetables but not much else and its not enough to feed the rest of their group.

"Not much here." Daryl announces in his soft voice.

"Compost." Waverly agrees on a sigh. She pokes around the bin dispersing a couple of mosquitos and a really rotten stink that makes her nose wrinkle.

"Thought we weren't gonna settle down." Tenneyson smirks over his shoulder at her comment.

"Keep looking." She frowns and moves past. She refuses to waste her breath, especially on one her brothers ridiculous taunts. Except, well… there had been a time when she had laughed with him and joined in the teasing arguments. It had annoyed her parents at times but it had always been in fun…

What she finds are coats. She doesn’t pick them up right away. Its easy enough now, just to assume the owners are dead or zombies.

Waverly grabs the three coats because even if she's not happy being forced into a group situation, she still has a heart and a conscience - her Mother's voice. Though Waverly's heart is barricaded for her survival. Tenneyson is the only one allowed  a piece of it, the rest of their family has taken the rest of it to their graves.

And that conscience is pointing out the chilling weather only getting colder. And how she didn’t notice if the girls had warm enough clothes. And just because the creepy little blond girl gives her the heebie-jeebies … it doesn’t mean the kid should freeze to death.

 _'Or does it?'_ Waverly wonders because her instincts haven't screwed her yet and they’ve been better than her little brothers.

"Find something?" Daryl asks at her back. It startles her because she didn’t hear him or maybe she just wasn’t paying attention. Either reason does her no good.

"Nothing we can eat." Waverly turns around and tossed the coats at him. "These should keep your girls warm."  She walks past, keeping the third coat. It'll fit Louis for a while.

The soft chirped whistle draws them to Tenneyson. He's just outside, smiling. "Lets fry it."

Waverly frowns. But before she gets a chance to say anything, Daryl has the chicken off Tenneyson's arrow, grinning. "We don’t know what that thing has been eating." She protests.

"Come on," Tenneyson pouts. "Its been living off worms."

"Gross." The image doesn’t help her get on board. "I hope you're getting the mental picture." she tells him.

" _Really_ blocking it." Tenneyson assures.

"One's not gonna feed us all." Daryl warns, though he's looking forward to having it fried.

"Dude, I only saw the one." Tenneyson shrugs.

"They can have my share." Waverly states still making her yuk face. "I'll find something else."

"She's picky about her birds." Tenneyson smirks in Daryl's direction as they start walking.

"Just when you're the one hunting." Waverly retorts.

***

Carol has Louis helping in the kitchen along with Mika. He tries not to think about Eliza but Mika makes it difficult to push away thoughts of his sister.

"What's for dinner?" Tyreese questions from the doorway. He tries a smile but it doesn’t reach his eyes. None of them particularly feel like the picture they present; just a normal, diverse, little family performing the normal, evening meal routine.

They don’t have a normal world. They have all suffered more loss than anyone should and normally would.

Normal isn't what it used to be.

"Vegetable soup." Carol smiles. She sounds apologetic but that’s all they have and lucky they found the vegetables in the green house out back. The fruit didn’t last as long, the kids ate those in one sitting. Not that any of the adults had been surprised.

"So," Tyreese moved to lean on the counter. "These teenagers…"

"She's not." Louis corrects. He glances up from the pot he's stirring. "She says so all the time. Tenneyson likes to tease her because she's 19."

"So…teenagers." Tyreese snorts. "How old is the kid, Tenneyson."

"17." He laughs. "Waverly says he's a minor so he's gotta do what she says when she says cus she's older and responsible for him."

Carol smiles. She's heard the siblings' argue that point quite a few times.

Louis is getting to know the prison members.

***

The dinky town is pretty much dead. They’ve gone through four shacks that don’t have much else than what they’ve scavenged so far. And its not enough to fed them all for long.

 _' A few days… longer if we ration.'_  Waverly restrains the urge to kick at the fence behind the shack they’ve just cleared, in frustration. And annoyance. Because thinking about how to feed this group of strangers is interfering with how she's supposed to convince her brother they need to leave said group.

Waverly tosses the jacket on the fence. She can feel the sting of cold air on her cheeks and through the hoodie she's clearly worn out. The faded blue is more gray and the threads , if pulled, will unravel what's left of the seams. She braces both hands on the wobbly fence, the wood pieces connected by a barbed wire and the first thing she can think of is how it can be used to their benefit.

Instead, Waverly stares into the dirt road sort of connected to the back yard.

Its difficult to keep it all in. the worry, the confusion…mostly it’s a hopelessness, this … despair, in a way. What are they all fighting for? The endless struggle to survive and protect their loved ones.

But _why_?

"Is tomorrow going to be any different?" she whispers.

The crunch of dry leaves spurs her to action. She's a little slow to draw, sore  from the fall and tight from the couple of days of forced inactivity. But that’s to Daryl's benefit. He stops halfway towards her, eyes on the half-drawn bow.

"Nothing here." Daryl says. He watches the single tear slide down her cheek. Ignored.

"Don’t sneak up on me again." Waverly tucks the arrow back into the quiver and turns away, grabbing the jacket and walking around the side of the shack. She tries to hid e the hand that wipes at her face. But he saw. And heard the sadness in her voice. He's seen it in Beth and Tyreese … Carol.

After a moment, Daryl follows the same path she just walked.

***

Beth notices Lizzie's odd behavior. She hadn't before but then, they'd all had more space between them and it had been easier to ignore…peculiar or odd behavior.

She hears the soft, off-key humming. Its in the bedroom where Judith was supposed to be asleep.  Beth hesitates in the hallway then rushes to the door and stops in thresh-hold.

Lizzie has her hands in the crib. Judith's gurgles are reassuring. Beth tentatively steps closer. "She's awake?"

Lizzie stiffens slightly, turns enough she can look over her shoulder at Beth, one hand on the railing of the crib.

Beth's eyes flick to the blade in her small hand, the clank it made against the wood, and back to Lizzie's face.

"I heard her. I think she wants to talk." Lizzie turns to Judith again, head slightly cocked as if she's figuring something out.

Beth hesitates to step closer, something about the knife has dropped a stone in her belly, or so it feels like. She shakes it off and walks towards the crib and the girls. "She might be too young still, for talking."

Lizzie just shrugs her shoulder and moves out of the way. The knife twirls in her hands, watching Beth pick up Judith and move to sit on the bed.

***

The soup gets some chicken - _after_ Waverly has her bowl of just the vegetables. Tyreese brings up the signs along the tracks he saw just before taking refuge with the girls in the closest house.

"They could be there."

Daryl stares into his bowl. He's thought the same thing but getting his hopes up only to be disappointed… what a fool. Hasn’t he? Been a fool long enough?

"You don’t know where any of the others from your prison camp have gone. Or if any of them survived."  Waverly's had enough of the waiting game. "You'd be putting the children at risk on some -."

"They'd do the same for us." Beth cuts in with Judith in her arms.

"I seriously doubt they're all concerned with finding you instead of food or safe shelter." Waverly doesn’t hold back. Tenneyson is used to it, the honest and most times harsh truths his sister has no qualms about voicing.

"It doesn’t hurt to try." Tyreese interrupts. "We can't just forget them…"

"My sister…" Beth's gaze drops to the blond head in her arms. "I know she's out there somewhere. With Glenn. They'll be looking for us too." She has to believe it. Because she can't have lost all of her family.

And this is what Waverly has been trying to get her brother to see. That these people, they're still a threat to their survival. A tightly as they're all holding on to the hope they'll find their lost  loved ones…she can't afford to go along with them.

_'I just have to get Tenneyson to agree we should move on.'_

"Put it to a vote."

The raspy voice draws Waverly's eyes to the red neck at the kitchen table. His eyes meet hers and its almost as if he's challenging her. To tell them again how crazy they all are to be hoping the others will be at this Terminus. Because Daryl knows what way the others are going to vote.

"Terminus." Beth looks up from Judith's head, her eyes bright with tears she's not going to shed until she's in bed and no one can see her cry.

Tyreese nods his agreement, looks up and meets everyone's eyes for a moment. "Terminus."

"Terminus." Carol agrees.

Waverly glances up to where Tenneyson is moving closer to the table instead of staying put by the kitchen island as he'd been doing before the voting had started.

"What do you say?" Daryl is looking at Tenneyson and catching a glimpse of Waverly from the corner of his eye.

"He doesn’t." Waverly steps up to the table her eyes on her brother with a warning he better not ignore.

"They don’t need my vote, Waves." Tenneyson shrugs. "They got majority." He doesn’t miss the press of her lips or the angry glare. "Unless you want to include the kids…"

"Why?" Waverly demands. Her eyes scan the table, frustrated and angry. "They’ll vote anyway they do."

"We should leave in the morning." Tyreese proposes.

That signals the end of dinner and the table slowly disperses, leaving the Skye's staring at each other.

"You realize what they're doing. You can't be blind." Waverly frowns. "I've let this go on long enough, Tenneyson."

"Don’t start." Tenneyson sighs as he drops into the empty chair. "Judith doesn’t always cry-."

"Are you kidding me?" Waverly cuts in with a hiss. "This group is full of kids- creepy freaky ones- and that baby? Jeez, Tenneyson! Those things cry at an abnormal high pitch- its going to be the death of them."

Tenneyson sighs, elbows on the table and wipes his face resting it in his hands. "I don’t see how its worse than not having a baby." He peeks up at his sister who looks kinda funny the way she's trying to get words out of her mouth. "Look, there's plenty that’s still going to kill us."

She knows he's serious and that blows the barrier she was having trouble getting past to yell at him.

"Its only a matter of time, Waverly."

"You don’t have to make it sooner." She scolds, hands pushing the chair into the table. "Or easier."

***


	6. Die, Die My Darling

 

It takes them 3 days to get to the tracks with a sign of Terminus that shows them the map.  And the way. Waverly still isn't happy they're staying with the group or the fact they're all heading to a camp they know nothing about.

"I don’t trust it." Waverly says again. She skips over a fallen branch in their path and keeps walking, looking for signs of a rabbit having scampered about in the brush.

"I know." Tenneyson acknowledges. He's heard her tell him the same thing over and over and he'd rather not hear it but likes it less when she smacks him for ignoring her.

"Don’t just agree." She scowls up  at him. They come out to the clearing and spots the tracks she's reluctant to follow. "I need you to listen and accept we don’t belong with this group of people. And we don’t need to be walking into Terminus like sheep either."

But she walks beside her brother, right on to the rain tracks…

"Why can't this be a good thing, Waverly?" Tenneyson stops in the middle of the tracks. "We find  a place that’s defensible. We do what we can to help thin out the walking dead herds and just maybe there's someone out there who can fix what the idiots in charge broke."

"That’s…a…fantasy." Waverly has the sudden urge to burst into tears. She really wishes it could be as easy as he thinks but everything around them says that’s just a dumb dream that’s going to get them all killed.

"They need us." Tenneyson's voice rises in pitch. He can tell she's not giving up on this idea of leaving the group and he doesn’t want to go. He doesn’t want to be isolated because the silence is going to drive him up the wall.

"Why are you ignoring all the signs?" Waverly demands with an almost desperate tone to her words. "The little siren? The little blond psycho? And the other blind bats pretending its going to be rosy in the end."

"Waverly," Tenneyson grabs her shoulders. He's tried being patient about her stubborn idea they need to leave. He's tried to understand why she thinks others are expendable when he knows she would do anything to protect Louis. And she'd give her life to save his if it came to that. And he's afraid of that because he can't be left alone. He wont make it without his sister and Waverly needs more than to take care of him like he's still a toddler.

"We don’t even have to go back to that shack." Waverly assures. "Let them keep the SUV-."

"We're not-. Waverly, they _need_ help." He frowns. "A lot of us need help."

"Some can't be helped." Waverly steps back, out of his hold and glares at him. "I'm trying to keep you alive!"

"I know you are, Waves." Tenneyson sighs. "You always have. But I'm not 2 years old now and I'm not defenseless either. You don’t have to take care of us." He takes her hand in his. "Let me help."

Her eyes tear up and Waverly has the sudden urge to cry. Yet again. And she's going to blame it on the fall because she must've smacked her head a lot harder on that asphalt than they think.

"Sticking with this group is not helping." She whispers.

.*.

Daryl brings Beth a tub so she can bathe Judith. The house they’ve taken for the day has a lot of baby things- a nursery- and Daryl's not going to think about what possibly happened to the baby that had used all those things they’ve appropriated for Judith.

"Thanks." Beth smiles but all she gets is a grunt for acknowledgement as Daryl walks out of the bedroom. She doesn’t take offense. That’s just how he is and he's brought her things for Judith - the little ass kicker.

Downstairs, Daryl meets with Tenneyson and Louis to check on the traps they set up when they arrived, late in the afternoon the day before. They pass by Tyreese who's set himself up in the living room to mend the packs and anything else they can't afford to lose.

Waverly is on the roof. Again. She finds herself a perch at the highest peak and settles in. She has a good view of the area around the house and plenty of time to think about the crazy blond girl that pitched a fit at the last place they stopped in. Waverly still can't understand why Carol, Tyreese and even Daryl are ignoring the fact there is something very wrong with the kid. She's got more than one screw loose if she thinks those zombies are her playmates.

Down in the yard, she spots the girls playing and looks around. The last thing she needs is for some dead neighbor to zombie over and then Lizzie goes all 'That's my friend. It just wants to play' because why would it want to chew her skinny carcass up?

Waverly scowls. She wonders what it is that's keeping them all in this bubble of denial. And how they contaminated her little brother with their kool-aid.

The yard is quiet. Its why Waverly hops off her perch and moves to where she has a clear view of the backyard. The moment she sees them, she wishes she had stayed put. Even if her brain is telling her that is Lizzie with a knife and blood on her hands. One of those hands over Mika's mouth but her gurgled voice still carries in the quiet.

"Stop!" Waverly has an arrow aimed when Lizzie looks up, the knife in Mika's chest for who knows how many times now. And all while Waverly was supposed to be watching out for danger.

Lizzie takes the knife out of Mika with a smile and before she gets to stab her again Waverly's arrow knocks it out of her hand.

"Outside!" Waverly ducks her head into the bedroom, daring for a second to take her eyes off the crazy little girl. "Now, outside! Get outside!" she can hear someone running. But Waverly has another arrow ready, aimed at Lizzie.

"What-?"

"Get that kid off her sister!" Waverly orders, ignoring Beth's question. She can hear the gasp and retreating steps of the girl. Under her breath, Waverly is pleading with Lizzie. "Don’t make me. Please, don’t make me."  Because however much she says that kid has lose screws, she doesn’t want to be the one who ends up putting an arrow in her.

Waverly stands up, a step closer to the edge and puts an arrow where Lizzie tries reaching for the knife. There's a scowl directed her way before Carol is in the back yard. Tyreese behind her and they both stumble, shocked by what they see.

Waverly jumps in through the window. She sprints through the bedroom and down the hall to the stairs. She's glad Louis wasn’t out in the yard and hopes Tyreese had the presence of mind to make him stay inside.

The yelling in the back yard is audible from the ground floor. Beth is in the kitchen clutching Judith to her chest. Louis is wide-eyed, standing in front of her with his own weapon of choice, the pipe Tenneyson fashioned into a spear.

At the kitchen door, Waverly stops when she sees the shiny gun in Lizzie's hands. _'Krap.'_ She backs up reaching for another arrow. But there's Beth with Judith and yeah, the little siren is dangerous but she's not going to be responsible for a stray bullet making it stop wailing at odd hours the way it likes to do.

"Get to the front of the house, stay low." Waverly orders. "Go!" she shoves her when Beth doesn’t move. It does the trick and Louis does with her after a second of hesitation. Waverly moves to the back porch, her arrow aimed at Lizzie and the lowering gun.

Carol has her in hand, making deals with the girl that’s promising Mika is just sleeping and if they just wait, she'll wake up.

Waverly doesn’t want anything to do with either of the little girls.

.*.

Waverly is waiting for Tenneyson. She's had it. They can't stay with this group. Louis has made his choice and however much she hates leaving the kid she can't force him to go either.

Tenneyson's smile falters when he sees her on the front steps, their duffels at her feet. She can tell from his crooked smile, that he's uncomfortably trying to pretend she's not going to say what he knows she's going to say, yet again and in front of Daryl. Because Tenneyson has a good idea of what she wants from him.

"What's with the-."

"Get in the SUV." Waverly orders. She starts walking past him when Tenneyson grabs her shoulder. "That girl just gutted her sister!" she yells at him, violently shaking his hand from her.

Daryl's surprised to hear her yell when she's the first one to make sure they don’t make noise to attract Walkers. Not that he understands a word of those funny sounds both of the Skye's are making. And its not the first time.

Tenneyson backs up, shocked and not entirely sure his sister is making this up just to get him to leave.

"I'm not staying. And neither are you." Waverly assures. "Because that girl is seriously screwed in the head."

That, Daryl understands. "You leaving again?" he scowls at her back.

"Better late than dead." Waverly retorts as he stomps his way up the front steps. She grabs at Tenneyson when he starts to follow Daryl into the house and tries to pull him towards the SUV.

"Just wait." Tenneyson grabs her hand and makes her stop.

"For what?" she demands. "So she can slit your throat in your sleep?"

Daryl stops in the doorway. "What?"

But the next sound startles all of them. Daryl is the first one to run into the house. Tenneyson on his heels with Waverly cursing in Japanese how they should be running away from the gunshot instead of towards it.

In the living room, Tyreese forcibly stops Daryl and tries to explain what happened. They both saw Lizzie with the Walker, how angry she had been that Carol had taken it down.

Daryl breaks down. He just drops into the chair and stares at the floor while Tyreese tries to make it make sense. And Daryl only looks up when he says it was Waverly who sounded the alarm. His eyes flick over to her but he doesn’t say anything and Waverly has this pit in her stomach. Because hadn't she been up on the roof for their protection? And it make less sense, but seeing it happen also doesn’t help her understand how a person can break.

_'Isn't this world broken enough for all of us?'_

Sometimes she doesn’t feel like this is real. Its all so … impossible! A bad B movie only they're all stuck in it. Trying to survive…

Its so much worse; Lizzie and Mika …

There's a heavy sadness; grief and shock at what's happened with the girls. They don’t understand how it happened. Because they’ve all seen people go bad; adults, grown men and women too. The ugliness inside just let loose.

But kids… children are supposed to be innocent. They're the clean, pure bits of humanity…

Aren't children supposed to be the future?

"We can't leave them like this." Tenneyson looks at her. The blue-green of his eyes so dark. "Just wait. Please."

He doesn’t ask her for much. There's not a lot they can give each other - not like they're able to pop into a Wal-Mart…

"Damn it." Waverly whispers. But really, what choice does she have?

.*.


	7. This Is The Road To Ruin

Daryl's never been out of Georgia, he's never been in jail- yeah, he looks the part but he hasn't been to that party. He's never had frozen yogurt and doesn't think he'd like it. Is it still yogurt if its frozen? He feels guilty that he couldn't do anything to save Hershel… the old man had given them a safe place when they'd needed it. And in return the group gave him nothing but grief during that time too and he lost it all. The farm, his wife… lost his leg and now his life.

Daryl doesn't think anyone else survived the prison attack … who could've survived all that, and Walkers too?

He shifts his body towards Waverly when he sees her appear from the tree line. Just behind her is Tenneyson. Both of the Skye's are silent, not that there's been much to talk about but at least she hasn't insisted on leaving. Daryl knows that's all due to her brother.

He's not sure what he feels. On the one hand … they're an asset. Two more able bodies, hunters and from what he's seen of them, trained to survive. The other feelings are what have Daryl confused because something about _them_ , together, sort of makes him sad. Someone, somewhere, once said that you can't be unhappy or disappointed with your lot in life, if you don't know what you're missing; that thing that can make you _really_ happy, not just content. And that's exactly what the Skye's make Daryl feel. Like he missed something with his brother. That relationship had been dysfunctional and deep down, Daryl had known it. But it was all he'd known so had been 'content'. That was how it was and how it would be and Daryl hadn't known any better…

Tenneyson gives a slight nod of his head and walks into the house they've taken over for the day. It was a hasty move but no one wanted to stay, not after …

"Hey," he clears his throat and forces his eyes to meet hers. "You alright?" why he's asking her that is another reason things have changed since the Skye's appeared.

Waverly just stares back at him. Her expression goes from confused to annoyed and finally questioning.

Daryl just shifts uncomfortably. He doesn't know her so he can't figure out what she's thinking or feeling. But he figures she has to feel some sort of responsibility for what's happened. She'd been the one on the roof after all.

Would she have put an arrow in Lizzie?

"It wasn't … no one could've known." He scrapes the heel of his boot on the porch, shifting uncomfortably. He doesn't lay the blame for what happened with the girls on her. Maybe she thinks they do-

"What?" Waverly sounds incredulous. "It was there." She glares at him. "The things she said-, her damn tone-!" she bites her tongue and backs up a step, almost as if she's been slapped.

"She was just a kid." Daryl frowns but he can hear the excuse in his voice as well as she does. He doesn't like the guilt that follows.

Waverly shakes her head. "No one listens." She mutters and drags in a shuddering breath. There are tears threatening to spill and that's the last thing she wants or needs right now. Not in front of the redneck. Or any of them.

Daryl grabs her arm as she turns away. "Everyone is screwed up." He hauls her around to face him, tone harsh but still kept low. "You think-."

"I have been!" Waverly yanks her arm out of his hand and shoves her palm at his chest. "I think about this shit all the damn time. I think about what's going to keep us alive another day. I catalogue every exit, every window and door. I look at this house and I see where its weak, what needs to be fortified, what needs to be easily accessible if there's a need to bust out." She shoves at him again. "I _see_ and it's not so easy to ignore all the people we've lost and _what_ that loss means but it doesn't keep Tenneyson alive. And that's what matters. I'm _not losing_ the last member of my family." She chokes on the last words, tears spilling down her cheeks that she angrily wipes away. All the anguish and the loss spills over, she can't damn it up, can't shove it down into its little box. She's been strong for Tenneyson. She's kept all her fear, every worry well hidden. She's the one who's supposed to keep her brother safe.

Daryl hasn't met anyone like the Skye's. Their bond is something he's wishing he'd had with his own brother. The more he sees them together… these siblings, its eye opening and Daryl … wants …

Waverly has every intention of walking past the annoying redneck that's caught her crying twice already. Twice! It's not his fault but it still annoys her and irrationally lays the blame on him. But she doesn't expect him to react … well, she doesn't expect the next moment.

Daryl steps in her way. He doesn't know why he's doing it or even that his hand is wrapped behind her neck pulling her towards him. He slips his free arm around her back, hand placed at the base of her spine just over her waist. Waverly's hands are caught between them, balling into his shirt, preparing to shove him away. She makes a sound- something between a gasp and a surprised squeak as Daryl picks her up. His mouth covers hers before she can say a word and the hands balled into his shirt stay right where they are.

They don't even hear the soft gasp from the girl frozen at the door.

**.*.**

The silence is only broken by Judith's gurgles and squaks. Its not even that loud which makes it easier to ignore. The passing scenery is green and lush … and lonely. She can ignore the lack of cars on the road they're travelling. Just pretend it's a trip into the country for a pic-nic … or maybe one of the long training sessions …

Her sight goes fuzzy around the edges and her throat is closing; another bout of tears threatens and Waverly scowls at the road. She's been silent from the moment the decision was made; unanimous vote to head for Terminus. And her brother [ _'Traitor.'_ ] had been all for this 'adventure'.

Tenneyson utters a sigh from the passenger seat. " _You're going too slow_."

She's noticed. She's seen the redneck glance back and then slow down enough she can see him scowling when he realizes how far behind they've fallen.

" _What do you care?_ " she mutters. " _The destination is still the same_."

" _Because Daryl is Walker bait on his bike_." Tenneyson replies with ease. " _And I like the guy_."

Waverly snorts. But that kiss pops into her head and her face feels hot, which means there's a blush staining her cheeks and that's annoying.

She's been avoiding him. Daryl doesn't, not really, but he _stares_. Its not an uncomfortable, creepy, stalker staring … more like he's waiting. As if he's trying to figure out what they felt… where it came from…

Waverly's not bothering to think on 'why'. That would drive her nuts- He's making her nuts! She speeds up until she can make out the wings on the leather vest the red neck insists on wearing. She wonders if it means anything… Had it been a gift? Some sort of biker gang thing…? No, maybe he took it off a corpse… The visual of that puts a scowl on her face. For some reason, she doesn't want to picture Daryl stripping a corpse.

" _What's the yuk face for?_ "

"Huh?" Waverly blinks, turns a quick glance to her brother before focusing on the road.

"You know," Louis pipes up from the back seat. "My Mom said its not polite to speak another language with people who don't understand it."

The Skye's glance at each other, slight confusion in their expressions.

"You're doing it." Louis reminds them. "Again."

"Sorry, bud." Tenneyson shifts in his seat to look at them. "We don't know we do that." He shrugs an apologetic shoulder.

"What is it?" Beth asks. It draws Tenneyson's eyes to her; comfortably huddled into the corner, head resting on the widow. "The language…"

"Japanese." Waverly answers.

"How do you two speak so fluently?" Carol wondered. "At least, I assume…"

"We are fluent." Waverly confirms. "Second language. Our Dad was stationed…"

Tenneyson glances to her, his hand sliding across the seat to rest on her shoulder. "We lived in Japan." He answers. "In the countryside with an old friend of Dad's. It was … sort of like a camp." His smile is a bit wistful.

"Sort of?" Beth questions full of curiosity. She hasn't found out much about the Skye's. Tenneyson is the one who likes to talk-

"You ask a lot of questions." Waverly frowns into the rearview mirror.

"Waves." Tenneyson sighs but as usual, his sister has managed to kill the mood. Every time he manages to get a conversation going, to bring her into some type of sharing moment with the others, Waverly shuts it down.

"Sorry." Beth whispers, her eyes skipping to Waverly's reflected in the rearview mirror but she's focused on the road.

"Don't be." Tenneyson sits facing the front once again. "My sister gets moody when I don't fall in."

" _It'll be worse if you don't shut up._ " Waverly warns him. She doesn't find his teasing amusing either but it doesn't stop Tenneyson from miming a zipping and lock motion with his hand across his mouth.

Carol didn't laugh but she couldn't stop the smile from forming on her face. She bent her head towards Judith so Waverly wouldn't see and was grateful of the distraction the siblings presented. The last thing Carol wants to think about is Lizzie…

That very brief conversation with the girl… not once had Lizzie acknowledged _what_ she had done wrong. Apologizing instead for drawing a gun on them, assuring her there was never any intention of shooting them. Still defending and rationalizing the murder of her sister and promising all they had to do was wait and Mika would wake up and it would be fine… Mika was only sleeping, after all…

And Carol still feels like such a failure. She promised the girls' Father, promised to take care of the girls, it had been Carol's second chance... to do for the girls what she hadn't done for Sophia….

_'I failed twice.'_

**.*.**


	8. Part II

Part II

There's a town on the railroad tracks. Its more like a pit stop but there's a couple of houses and Waverly pulls off the road. Her passengers glance at each other in confusion because they can see Terminus is close and Daryl is still heading in that direction.

Beth leans around the drivers seat. She's about to point out Daryl is now on the road alone when they all hear the rough rumble of his bike coming up behind them, fast. She glances back, to the scowling motorcycle riding, redneck and a soft smile pulls on her lips. Its obvious he's upset but she doesn't think he's going to say anything.

They pull into a short drive-way and both Skye's get out.

_"They wont like the pit stop."_

_"That's not my problem."_ Waverly takes up her bow and starts towards the house. _"Clear the area. Make sure there aren't dead walking."_

 _"You're not going inside alone."_ Tenneyson protests.

Daryl pulls up right in front of Waverly and sees the annoyance flash across her features at all the noise his bike makes. Its petty and childish but he still does it anyway; revs the engine before turning off his bike and stepping off.

"Thought I'd join you." He says in a soft angry rasp as he pulls his crossbow off his back.

"Hey, now you can go with my sister to clear the house." Tenneyson smiles, ignores the scowl on her face. "I'll take the Walkers out here." He starts around the house before she can protest.

Carol is out of the SUV, closing the door on the remaining group and follows Tenneyson around the house with a machete.

"She'll make noise-."

"They'll be fine." Daryl cuts her off and starts up the front steps. "You coming or what?" he demands from the front door.

It's the first time she makes noise, feet stomping up the steps. At the front door she bypasses him and spin kicks the door open. He's left a little in shock, though he quickly follows her inside.

They find a Walker in the closet of the upstairs second bedroom. Daryl throws it out the window before going back to the SUV and the rest of the group.

Carol and Tenneyson only find 2; a Walker chopped in half, hanging from a hook in the back yard. Its entrails are the only thing keeping both pieces together.

"Soo…" Tenneyson has never seen anything like it. He's not sure what to say though it reminds him of the one and only time their family went to visit his grandparents at the ranch in Mexico. There had been a bar-b-q with fresh meat provided by the cow slaughtered right there in the back yard. It had been strung up just like the Walker and they'd carved off pieces to put on the grill and spit. If he had to recount a memory of that trip, it would be the only one he remembers simply because it had been such a shock. The worst part - he'd been the one to pick the cow, never realizing why it was his grandfather had asked which he liked the best.

Carol stepped forward, the blade catching on the skull which she pulled free with a little extra force. She moved with purpose towards the Walker stuck under the back porch and repeated the process while Tenneyson turned away from the strung up Walker.

The thud from the side of the house drew their attention. Tenneyson took point, bow raised as he hurried to see what it was. He found a splattered Walker in a bathrobe twisted like a rag doll laying on the path. He glanced up but didn't see either his sister or Daryl.

"They're all kinda gross. Aren't they?" he turned to Carol who got a clear look of the Walker and made the requisite 'ugh' face.

"They're never pretty." She muttered. "I don't see any others."

"Cool." He stepped over the Walker and headed around to the front of the house with Carol bringing up the rear. She wondered about his hesitation but she could see its nothing like Tyreese. What happened with the girls has affected him in a different way. Its almost as if the broken world they inhabit has ripped into his veins to slowly drain him of whatever will to live he's had. And she isn't stupid, to think that the loss of Karen hasn't been a factor. That's a conversation she needs to have with Tyreese, to come clean and let it be whatever he needs, to come back and start fighting.

"All clear back here." Tenneyson offers a smile and heads to the SUV for his pack and Waverly's. Everyone else is moving into the house as quietly as possible. Its certainly going to be short lived and his sister is going to have a lot of questions thrown at her. He sighs, already imagining the annoyed response she's going to throw at the group. Heading into Terminus was the group vote but Waverly doesn't want to go, only she wont leave him and that means she's stuck.

"What are we doing?" Daryl is the first to demand answers.

"Unpacking?" Tenneyson inserts a bit of levity but this time no one is in the mood. So he takes a seat on the bottom step of the staircase, his bow laid across his lap and an arrow in his hand.

"You've made it clear the destination is Terminus." Waverly sets her bow on the table and lays her quiver alongside it. "I'm not going in there before we recon the area and get an idea of what this is-."

"Its sanctuary." Beth insists. "The signs all say it's a safe place. That we'll find sanc-."

"Sanctuary, yes. I can read. In four languages, as a matter of fact." Waverly snaps. "You don't know anything about the people there. It would be stupid to walk in-."

"She means we shouldn't trust its safe." Tenneyson cuts in. "Not until we can see for ourselves-."

"Stop apologizing for me!" Waverly automatically grabs the first item on the table, aside from her weapons, and throws the rotted orange at her brother.

"Ugh! Waves!" Tenneyson swipes at the smudge of juice on his chest.

"Fine." Daryl cuts into the bickering. This is something he recognizes, though with Merle the situation would escalate until they were physically beating each other. And Merle usually ended up the winner. "We'll take a look around the place. Try and see what's inside the fence before we head in there."

"How?" Tyreese quietly looks around the group. They've taken on two teenagers, a baby and siblings that can more than handle themselves.

"We'll need another car." Waverly can see her brother piece her plan together. Another car means they can splinter from the group at any time, any place…

"In the meantime, we should find what food there is. Get some rest and tomorrow, Tenneyson and I will take a look at Terminus."

"Alone?" Carol glances between the siblings. She can see they understand her question clearly; are they leaving and not coming back.

"We can handle it." Tenneyson assures with a smile. "We'll go on foot. Quieter that way."

"You think this place is different?" Louis wonders. He's only known 2 groups, the one with Carol and then with the Skyes'.

"Louis," Waverly moves around the table and takes his shoulder. "We can't expect all the groups to be like ours had been. Some people… they change into something… ugly."

"But this could be like before." Louis insists. He wants to believe it so badly it almost hurts. "You could make it like the warehouse. Maybe some of the others found this place and they're waiting inside…"

Waverly feels like her guts are being yanked out of her body at the hopeful expression on Louis' face. Sometimes she forgets he's still a kid. And she doesn't want to ruin his vision of happiness, this innocence…

"Not everyone is like my Dad." Waverly pats his shoulder and walks outside. Tenneyson is taken aback that she leaves without her weapons. He quickly grabs them and heads after her while the group slowly splinters off to settle in and wait for morning.

**.*.**

_He's not supposed to follow her. She's already warned him, but Tenneyson is taking the fall on this one. He's promised and Louis hasn't had reason to doubt the teen. Curiosity… they both know Waverly doesn't tell them everything that happens in the meeting. Tenneyson says its because she's older when really its just that she doesn't want to worry them. Still, Louis is just as curious about what's going on with the adults as the rest of the group. Everyone else just trusts that the Council and the Skye's will keep them safe._

_Waverly grabs him by the sleeve of his shirt. She's partly hidden in the shadows of the crates but there's no doubt she's annoyed by his presence. She makes a shushing motion with her hand over her mouth and points to where he can sit. Once he's settled, she goes back to eavesdropping._

_"They haven't reported in over a week."_

_"No one has… what does it mean?"_

_"If they were rescued… Wouldn't they have sent word to us by now?"_

_"We can't assume anything."_

_"Look, the plan has always been to find a safe place. Somewhere -."_

_"That doesn't exists anymore. And if it does… it might as well be China because we sure as hell can't get there."_

_"We could try…"_

_"With what? And all these people? What do you think a large group like this is-."_

_"Let's calm down. We don't know what's happened to the other groups. Why they've been silent or if there's a need to be alarmed. What we can do, is figure out a plan-."_

_"To do what?!"_

_"Are we still telling ourselves we can save this world?"_

_"Why not?"_

_"Why …?! Have you taken a look outside?"_

_"We have corpses lining the perimeter!"_

_"There are people inside. People that need something to hope for. We can do that."_

_"False hope? That's cruel."_

_"Is it any less cruel to tell them there's nothing to look forward to? That among this group of genius IQ's and expensive degrees, not one of us is willing to try?"_

_"People are getting sick…"_

_"We knew that could happen. It was a risk we've prepared for and so far there hasn't been a casualty because of the sick turning."_

_"So what then? We just forget about the silence and go on like before?"_

_"Do you have a better idea?"_

_"I'm open to suggestions. I want to hear what everyone has to say. What you think and what-."_

_"We can't stay here forever… you think, if we told them, they'd want to go?"_

_"Not everyone. But…yes, some will go. If there's the hope of this being over."_

_"Your 'magic box' is far from a cure, Capt."_

_"But it's a start. Rome wasn't built in a day. We can't expect to produce a cure overnight…"_

_"We're coming up on year."_

_"Ever the pessimist… that's why you're all gray, Teller."_

_"Its dignified."_

_"Of course…"_

**.*.**

Daryl slips out the window and onto the roof, boots making noise as he slips on the planks. Once he gets to the top, its easy to spot Waverly sitting on the edge with her back to him.

"Hey." His soft rasp carries but she doesn't reply. She'd already heard him and he's the last person she would have thought to come relieve her of watch duty. "You should get some rest while we can."

Waverly hasn't said a word to him and she doesn't plan on it. Still, its another moment before she gets up to leave. She's been staring at the skyline of trees and rooftops while the sun set and cast the sky in shades of red. There was a glimpse of Terminus … and silence.

Daryl takes a seat beside her. She doesn't even acknowledge he's there and while he won't admit it, that kinda hurts his feelings. But he's starting to understand, just thinking about what she's said so far, why she's always so insistent on leaving… _'She's afraid.'_ And he knows she won't admit it, so pointing it out is just going to be a fight. That doesn't change the fact, Waverly is afraid of getting close to people.

_"Is tomorrow going to be any different?"_

He barely heard her but those words make sense now. "You don't like babies?"

Waverly frowns. "Its loud and draws Walkers." And as soon as she's done talking she wishes she'd kept her mouth shut. "Forget I said anything." She makes to get up and finds Daryl's hand on her wrist.

"You're always in a hurry to leave." He tugs on her arm until she sits. "Its safe here. With us."

She wants to laugh and all he gets is a twisted smile as she shakes her head. "There isn't any place safe. And believing this time will be different than the last is stupid."

"You don't know that. _We_ don't know…" Daryl sighs and looks at the sky. It would be so easy to pretend the world isn't dead. "… why can't you believe its going to be ok?"

She stares at the sky, the twinkle of stars and wishes it would be that easy. But she knows better, and their futures are never certain. The dead walk and people aren't who they were before the world broke.

"I never thought my Dad would die there." She whispers. "That he wouldn't make it out … I never got to say goodbye." She clears her throat and stands up. "You don't count your chickens before they hatch." She ducks in the window and never looks back. "And you never put all your eggs in one basket."

He still doesn't know much about her or her brother but he's picked up on a couple of things. She's hiding her pain, the loss of her family and holding on as tight as she's able to the last stitch of what she knows and loves; Tenneyson Skye.

Daryl gets it then. He understands that, wanting to protect your family.

**.*.**

Carol is up at first light. She's not as quiet as the Skye's but she's gotten better at making her tread lighter.

"Morning." Tenneyson steps from the kitchen, smiling, and into the hallway. "Sorry."

Carol scoffs because she can see he's not sorry for startling her. "Leaving so early?"

"Oh, early bird and all that." Tenneyson shrugs and takes another bite of the orange in his hand. He moves towards the front door to wait on his sister. "Don't worry. We'll be back soon enough."

"Are you sure about this?" Carol frowns. "I could-."

"No." Waverly walks past Carol, ignoring the woman's startled gasp. She grits her teeth at the sound of the little siren squalling and glares at Carol. "Keep it silent."

"She's hungry." Beth's voice floats down from the top of the stairs, annoyance flashing over her features.

"Then feed her and keep her quiet." Waverly reiterates. "The less noise she makes the safer everyone else will be."

"Wrong side of the bed?" Daryl snickers from the kitchen. He's been out checking the traps he set the night before. Luckily there was a rabbit in one but that's all he's managed to get. "Left some meat on the table." He says to Carol and walks into the hallway everyone has gathered in.

"You're going?" Beth looks worried. Her eyes skip from Waverly to Daryl and back.

"We are not pulling up in that noisy beast." Waverly looks to her brother, glaring at his open mouth until he shuts it.

"It hasn't been a problem before." Beth draws Waverly's attention, no one misses the anger in her tone either.

"You can't sneak up on someone if you're making noise." She turns to the door and stops with it half open. "You should stay." She looks right at Daryl.

"I can hot wire a car." He protests but their short conversation on the roof is the reason she doesn't want him along.

"So can we." Tenneyson smiles.

"We aren't the only ones out here." Waverly reminds them. "Other groups aren't … so nice." Her eyes skip to Carol and Beth before resting on Daryl and she's positive he gets her meaning.

Daryl glances at them too. Concern on his features neither woman misses.

"Hey, I'll stay." Tenneyson volunteers cheerfully though he can't seem to look at his sister too long. "My bow is as good as yours." He moves to Waverly's side and ushers her out to the porch.  
"Remember," he whispers in her ear. "If you can't say anything nice…"

Waverly stomps on his foot, glaring up at her little brother. It doesn't stop him from laughing but he's right; its what their Mother would say to her.

"What if there's trouble?" she questions.

"Then I deal. I'm not useless, you know." Tenneyson assures.

"I know that." Waverly agrees but she can't help worrying. "Head north-."

"I know." He cuts in. "We settle in the first town and if we can't, we move on until we can. I know the drill, Waves."

"We stick to the plan." She reiterates and hugs him. "I don't want you getting lost."

"Hey," he steps back to look down at her. "I always know where I am."

Daryl steps out and finds them smiling at each other. But as soon as Waverly spots him, she steps back, smile gone and hurries down the steps onto the path.

"Oh," Tenneyson steps in Daryl's way. "I'd like my sister back in the same condition you're leaving with her." He smiles and walks into the house.

**.*.**

Beth is curious about the Skye's. they always seem to have a plan in place, always prepared for whatever comes their way. So the first thing she does is find Tenneyson. Up on the roof, where his sister usually is.

"Hi." Beth struggles to keep her footing.

"You shouldn't be up here." Tenneyson warns as he reaches for her hand and pulls her up. "Getting you down is not going to be easy." He sighs.

"Sorry." Beth shrugs and turns to look around. She can spot the top of the Terminus buildings, at least she thinks they are. "Is that it?"

"Yup." He nods. "They went that way." He points behind them.

"Oh," Beth nods, realizes he's talking about Daryl and his sister. "So…"

"Waverly isn't here to glare at you, so you can ask whatever you came up here to ask." Tenneyson reclines into a semi-comfortable positions, his bow laid across his lap.

"The camp." Beth blurts out. "Why were you there? What was it like?"

Tenneyson wasn't expecting this. She can see it on his face.

"Uh, well…our parents sent us." He shrugs. That's all he knows about the 'why'. "And we weren't the only ones at the camp."

"What do you mean?" Beth turns carefully so she's facing him, intrigued. "How many more?"

"Not that many. A couple dozen." He shrugs again. "We went through the same training; hunting, weapons, self defense, tactics, language, reading, writing- all the boring regular school stuff. Mom insisted."

"But why?" Beth doesn't get it.

"Not a clue." Tenneyson replies. "Waverly overheard them, she was always eavesdropping. Dad hated it, Mom kept telling her she'd never hear anything nice about herself…" he sighs and frowns out at the trees.

"What'd she hear?" Beth leans forward.

"Oh, there were other camps. Part of the bigger plan. She got caught before they divulged anymore." He smiles.

"Divulge?" Beth smiles too, she likes the teasing, its easy.

"What? Big words are just words."

"So what about the other camps? Don't you know how to contact them?"

"Nah," Tenneyson shakes his head. "It got quiet before my Dad came for us. And then at the warehouse… well, its been silent for a long while." He frowns. "I know Waverly knows more than she told us. Dad would've had a plan…" he trails off knowing his sister wont like that he's said this much already.

"What happened?" Beth's tone is soft, she knows its not going to be a happy story. No one has one of those anymore.

**.*.**

Carol remembers Louis saying the Skye's were trained for this world; to survive.

"Saw a couple of episodes for the _Doomsday Preppers_ on National Geographic." Tyreese shifts his hold on Judith. The bottle on the table is half empty already.

"I don't think that's how Louis meant." Carol smiles, sets the bowl of fruit on the table and moves back to the counter. "But I feel better knowing there's some sort of plan." It reminds her of the prison, working with Rick and the others…and then there wasn't a plan and shit happened.

"Hi." Louis shuffles in and takes a seat at the table.

Tyreese pushes the bowl of fruit towards him. "Heard you got some stories on these kids."

Louis shrugs, chewing on a slice of orange. "After we left Carol and the others, we broke down. Only got to the next state. Dad got us to this gas station and that's where the Capt. found us. They took us in. It was a warehouse, everything we needed and more. One of the doctors, he was some kind of scientist, he figured out we could use Walkers as camouflage. So they got a couple to line the fence around the warehouse. And there were others too; people with degrees, important people… I liked it there. It was a good camp." He whispers and ducks his head to wipe at his eyes. "There was order… a council to make decisions, but most of them fell on Capt. Skye. They all had training and a better idea of what was happening."

"Telling stories without me?" Tenneyson startles them. He's overheard the last part of the conversation and knows his sister will not be happy about it.

"We were…" Carol glances at Tyreese and back at Beth standing beside Tenneyson.

"Curios." He supplies. "I know. Mom said its what killed the cat. But they got 9 lives so…"

Beth can see the startled expression cross Tyreese and Carol's faces. "Not funny." She nudges Tenneyson who agrees.

"Bad joke." He acknowledges. But he's not going to add anymore to what Louis has already told them. Like the fact there's a journal and lap top in his sisters back pack with all the work the doctors and scientists at the warehouse had been working on. It was the last thing their Dad gave them with the order it was not to leave either of their possession. It was given to Capt. Skye by another friend in the government. But he never told them why or what to do with it.

"They had a plan…" Louis says. "Part of one… before the herd…"

"So she did hear more than she said." Tenneyson can't believe she got Louis to keep quiet.

**.*.**


	9. Until She's Broken

Part I

**.*.**

Waverly is quiet the entire walk across town. She doesn't want to draw attention so close to their little refuge, not with all the people she is now responsible for helping stay alive. She tries to avoid Daryl, one word answers if she has to and no eye contact. They have a lot of ground to cover in the time she's given herself to get another set of wheels and back to her brother. Any excuse to keep her distance and not talk about what he did on that porch.

_'He keeps trying to make me stay with these people and we can't. Why doesn't he see it?'_

Tenneyson is all she should worry about. He's all the family she has and a promise to keep…

**.*.**

_Echoes of the shots being fired fill the warehouse. Everyone is running to the emergency exit and the designated cars. It's been planned from the first week the Skye's and their group found the distribution center. That doesn't mean there's less panic… the dead are everywhere._

_"Here, Waverly! Here!"_

_"What-?"_

_"Take it." Myles Teller shoves the satchel into her hands. He grabs her shoulder, his grip conveys the urgency matched by his tone. "It's imperative this does not get lost. Do you understand?"_

_She nods. "This is what they need. The others?" because she heard them talking about leaving, the need to find the other groups and fix what's broken._

_"Yes." He breathes a shaky laugh. "I should've realized you'd be listening. Take it and go. Head towards Washington. That was the last group we heard from before they went silent."_

_"I never heard where or who." She shakes her head but he shoves the satchel into her chest._

_"We have friends there. Find -."_

_It happens fast, it comes up behind Teller and sinks its rotted teeth into his back._

_"No!" Waverly lunges forward, she tries to let go of the satchel but Teller shoves her and the bag away from him. "No!"_

_"Go!" he screams and the chunk of bloody flesh is torn from his back along with strips of his shirt and the vest he wears. A second one falls over the first one and Teller can't get away from them._

_Waverly slips the strap over her head, she grabs the pipe and smashes their heads in. There's a pool of blood and nothing she can do to help Teller._

_"… find the lab…" his mouth clogs with blood and that's all he can manage. He swats at her with a weak hand covered in blood._

_"I'll find it." She sets the pipe down and takes his head in her hands. "I promise. I'll find them." He tries to smile. It's a crooked, pained twist of his lips and his eyes close. "Telly?"_

_Waverly draws a breath but she knows he's gone. Its not going to take long before he revives and that's something he would hate. "I'm sorry."_

_She's been taught how, a firm grip and hard twist, that's all it takes. This is the first time she's had to do it to someone she knows._

**.*.**

They've been walking for an hour. He's stopped trying to get her to pick a car because so far she's turned down everyone he's pointed out. He doesn't even know what's wrong with them. They all look fine to Daryl, some still have at least half a tank and that's unusual.

"You two have an escape plan?" Daryl asks.

"That's the first step to survival." She replies. "Make a plan for the plan. Then have a back up."

She knows it doesn't always work out that way. It didn't before and even their back-up had been a bust. If it weren't for her Father…

Daryl sort of makes a smile hearing her and she notices. "You all like to plan stuff… Got one for this too?" he nods to the neighborhood they're walking through. It's a little more … 'fancy' than the neighborhoods they've been in. The sort of place Daryl wouldn't have felt comfortable walking through.

Waverly stops in the middle of the street. "Not going in." she can see his good humor leave the instant he realizes she's talking about Terminus. "That would be my only choice. But all of you have this sparkly vision of a Utopia I don't believe exists. This world… its-."

"Not broken." Daryl cuts in. "Yeah, its krap." He agrees moving closer towards her. "It was before, people just couldn't see it then."

That's not what she expects to hear from him. He's not supposed to be … this. How can he still believe something good will eventually happen? Is it? Or is he trying to fool himself? Throw himself into the vision of a world put to rights the others seem to believe in. There's more to him than there should be, than she wants him to be…

Daryl's eyes widen as she draws her bow and aims at him. He doesn't think what he's said warrants an arrow in his chest. He's slow to raise his own weapon when she ducks around him.

Waverly lets her arrow fly. The Walker shuffling towards them drops like a sack and she doesn't miss the expression on his face. She can't answer him, because she's done for Daryl what she couldn't do for Teller. She watches him reach down to the body and she can't help but think of the scientist and the feel of his neck snapping between her hands…

Daryl plucks the arrow from the walker. It pops out with a squish and what's left of the eye. Its easy enough to flick off. "Thanks." He holds it out to her trying to figure out what she's thinking but her expression gives him nothing.

"We should go." She walks past him and heads for the first house she can see through the sting of tears. Her hand brushes her face and she takes another breath before quietly hopping over the picket fence. They're on the left side of the house, both moving quickly across the yard and up to the front porch.

Daryl motions her forward, his eyes scanning the street until he catches a glimpse of a shuffling corpse. The clink of breaking glass draws its head up. "Shh!" Daryl warns but its coming towards the fence. "Hurry!"

"I'm in." Waverly holds the window up until Daryl climbs through. They shut it and move to opposite sides, staring into the yard where the walker is held back by the fence. "We should search the house for food and water. I'll look in the garage. See what they left behind."

"Wait!" Daryl snags her sleeve as she's walking away.

"For what?" she pulls from his hold and glares. "It's a big house, the faster we search and clear, the sooner you go back to your friends."

Daryl glares at her back. There's a couple words he'd like to say to her but he's biting his tongue. He curses under his breath and heads towards the stairs. There's pictures on the walls, family portraits and school pictures, the sort of life he's seen on TV. But the world as it is now, its easier to believe than what he sees on the wall. Closer to the life he had…

He stops at the foot of the stairs and listens. There's a thud, a soft sound he didn't think he'd heard at first. It comes again and he backs up into the hall to listen. Another thud and Daryl swings his crossbow to aim at the door on his left. Each step is carefully placed in front of the other, his sole focus is the door and the thing behind it. He doesn't wonder about it anymore, about what will come at him. Was it once a woman, a man, a child… he's seen quite a few and each one brings up the memory of Sophia.

He grabs the handle and draws a breath, steadying his arm and aim…

**.*.**

Beth is once again in charge of Judith. The child without a mother, her father and brother lost… She sings and hums another song to keep her content but she's thinking about all the things Judith wont ever get to see or hear or experience. This baby born into a broken world… where the dead don't stay dead… where its humans you have to guard against… people killing other people…

'This is not the world they wanted for you. For any of us.'

"Lori was a nice lady."

Beth startles slightly, her song cut mid word, she glances towards the door and finds Louis standing just outside.

"I'm sorry she died." he's slow to approach once Beth nods that he can. "Carl…"

"We'll find them." Beth assures. She turns the soft smile to Judith who's taken an interest in the boy. "All of them."

"I didn't think I'd ever see any of them again." his breath hitches and Louis struggles to get his emotions back under control. All of a sudden he just wants to cry. But he's embarrassed to do it in front of a stranger, especially a girl.

"You know," Beth stares down at Judith, he expression thoughtful and slightly confused. "Everything… I guess its easier to accept they're lost. The way things are now…" she looks up at him. "But you… you were able to find Carol and then you found us…." she smiles. "I know we'll find my sister. We'll find the others too."

Louis nods. He really hopes they can.

**.*.**

There's a dead walker in front of the pantry. Daryl ignores it, pretends he didn't see the face- it had been a teenager before. A dark haired boy… someone had put its eye out.

He scans the pantry and the cabinets in the kitchen, making a pile of the cans and dry goods they can take. Its not much, but its better than leaving it behind. He tries the faucet but even that's dry, he's not even sure why he tried it-.

Breaking glass draws him towards the living room where the walkers have broken the window. There's too many to count, too many to try and get rid of.

What he can do is block the broken window they're trying to pile through.

**.*.**

The garage is full of survival gear, like the family that had lived here stocked their home for the end of the world. Or a very bad storm. She's quiet, tip toeing around the garage and the SUV which she notices is half packed up already.

Waverly wonders if they'd planned on running… had they known there was nowhere safe anymore?

She looks into the open back, there's no food just a lot of gear-. Waverly leans in, the fuzzy hot pink ear caught her attention and when she tugs on the toy finds a stuffed rabbit.

She stares at it, wondering what they'd been thinking… had they made it? Did they escape? Or…

Noise.

Something tips over, a can or canister- whatever it is - makes a clang. Waverly drops the toy, draws her bow and slowly steps around the SUV. There's a body, what's left of it, anyway. The torso has been torn into, there's nothing left of the stomach or in the chest cavity. It had been a woman once, now trapped under fallen shelves.

Waverly lowers her bow, she takes the arrow and approaches the thing reaching for her. She kneels at her head and pauses, wondering if the woman had known she was going to die? Turn into this thing…?

She stabs the arrow into its eye, which burst into jelly and begins to ooze out. Its gross and the hand that had reached towards her flops onto the ground.

Waverly heaves a breath and closes her eyes. Then she hears it, a tinkling of bells accompanied by the hiss of a familiar sound. She's afraid to look, but even more afraid of what happens if she keeps pretending it's not there.

"Oh… my…" she blinks the sting of tears from eyes at the sight before her. The… thing… its got a pink bow in each of her pigtails, dressed in a jean romper with a purple polka-dot and hot pink blouse. The tinkling comes from the tiny bells threaded into the laces of her white chucks.

**.*.**

The box has only given them time to harness their anger. To prepare for when the doors open and they take back their freedom.

Rick is not going to loose anyone. He wont allow his son to die because they were following a false dream of some utopia. He should have known better by now. Should have known there's no place safe. Not in this broken shell of a world where humanity has lost … they're humanity.

He looks at them in the dark, what little light that slips between the cracks. This… these people are his family.

"We're getting out."

That's his promise.

**.*.**

Waverly scrambles back on her butt, the screech of the garage door opening is so loud, there's no doubt the walkers have heard it. She can see the shuffle of several feet in the widening crack. The toddler… the little monster playing with the remote, blood smeared all over the front of her clothes and mouth.

Did she eat her mother before … or was it after?

Waverly scrambles to her feet and lunges for the door, back to the kitchen as the mob piles into the garage. She doesn't have enough arrows, that is certain but she gives one up.

The little girl is pulled off her feet by the force of the arrow in her head.

The rest of the walkers trample her in their haste to get at Waverly. Fresh food.

They're at the door before she can get it closed and locked. A hand shoved in the crack and no matter how hard she pushes, there's more force pushing back from the other side.

Waverly grabs another arrow and jabs at the walkers trying to get inside. The ones at the forefront fall, they make a pile that slows the ones behind. But they've also blocked the door from closing. She can hear something crash towards the front of the house and just hopes Daryl can handle it on his own.

She jumps back drawing her bow, the first walker through the door gets an arrow. Waverly knows she has a limit, its not an endless supply in her quiver. Replacing them is like panning for gold. Which is why she's always careful to retrieve as many as she can.

"Waverly!"

She spares a glance towards the front of the house where Daryl apparently has his hands full.

"I'm busy!" she glares at the walker lunging at her, now too close to shoot so she changes the grip on her bow and smacks it aside. There's another to take its place and a second right behind it. They push her further into the kitchen, her back slamming into the island. It hurts enough to make her drag in a breath. She drops the walker and stabs the one behind it. Two more grab at her and the one on the floor grabs her boot. She tries to kick it off but its grip claws up to her calf and it pulls on her.

"Get off!" Waverly drops her bow and takes two arrows. She stabs indiscriminately at the walkers clawing at her.

And that's what Daryl finds when he rushes towards the sound of her scream. His first arrow takes the walker biting at her arm which she then stabs at the walker falling on top of her as they land on the kitchen floor. Two more arrows drop the walkers climbing over the pile in the garage door.

She's struggling to get out from under the corpses, pain radiating up her arm and she's afraid to look.

"Come on!" Daryl kicks the body off and grabs her upper arm. He has her bow too, and hauls her to her feet. She limps towards the stairs but with his help they get to the 2nd floor. "Go!" he pushes her towards the last door in the hallway which turns out to be the master bedroom. The door slams shut and the huge dresser gets shoved until its blocking the door.

Waverly's attention is taken up the blood sopping the sleeve of her faded sweater. There's a tooth stuck to the tape on her forearm…

"Come on." Daryl grabs her, moving into the bathroom where he lets her go and slams the door shut.

She ignores him, frantic in her need to get the sweater off and see -.

Daryl spares her a glance; she's panicked, unable to see past the rags and broken tape. he catches sigh of the tooth stuck to the sleeve and blood smeared down her forearm as she yanks the thin material off. Her arm hurts, just enough to scare her because even the slightest scratch…just a bit of broken skin...

Daryl makes sure the door is locked then turns towards her once again, his crossbow slung over his shoulder. She's frantically rubbing on her arm. He grabs a hand towel laying on the counter and presses it to her arm, worried he'll have to do what's necessary.

Waverly brushes him off and wipes the stains. There's relief in her quiet sob when the skin is revealed, unbroken, not a scratch. she'l definitely have a bruise, already the sign of blood under the skin-. The thump on the door startles them both and he rushes back, listening for a beat but also making sure the bathroom door will hold.

Waverly drops the rag and yanks on the buckle. Her fingers struggle to get it undone and the small blade in the buckle thunks on the square bit of carpet. She yanks her pants down and falls over as she's trying to pull it off her leg, boot still in place. She starts to whimper when she can't get it past the taped cloth drenched in blood. This hurts worse than her arm and she's afraid its going to be infected.

Daryl drops to his knees beside her. She grabs for the blade and he takes her wrist. "Hold on."

"Let go!" she orders, her voice loud and frightened.

But he doesn't. Daryl takes the blade and cuts the laces from her boot. He pulls it off, allowing her to get her leg out of the ruined pants. He kneels, reaching for the hand towel she tossed onto the counter. He comes back to find her wiping at the blood with her hands, trying to see... He brushes her aside and quickly cleans off the remaining blood.

"Is it clean?" she whimpers, her hand clenched into his vest.

Daryl can see the red welts on her calf but nothing else on the skin. "Yeah," he nods, drawing a relieved breath. He looks at her and smiles, uttering a short laugh. "It didn't get through."

Waverly almost sighs with relief but she has to see for herself. She twists her leg around enough to see her calf and though it hurts, the skin is intact. She allows herself a relieved breath then rests her face in his chest. She can't stop the rush of tears or the harsh sobs that shake her. Her only thought had been of Tenneyson and what he would do without her. Who was going to keep him safe?

"Shh," Daryl wraps his arms around her, his voice a harsh whisper. "You're alright." He assures her there's no bites, she's fine. He threads his fingers into her hair, his voice in her ear and tugs her face up towards his. She doesn't resist and when she wipes at her tears, he traces his thumb over her cheek. "

**.*.**


End file.
